471 graveyards in city out of space, tribesmen occupy burial lands

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

By Irfan Aligi

KARACHI: Tribal families have encroached lands reserved for major graveyards to meet the city’s need for burials. The Sindh Board of Revenue (BoR) had allocated three lands at different remote locations to the City District Government Karachi to establish graveyards as the existing 471 graveyards in the city have been officially closed due to lack of space.

The Sindh BoR had allotted a 200-acre land in Gadap Town, a 50-acre plot in the vicinity of the Hub Dam and a 100-acre plot on the National Highway. However, different tribes have converted these lands into specific family graveyards, while armed tribesmen have been preventing citizens to bury their dead there.

There are around 471 large and small graveyards in the city inclusive of graveyards of other religious communities such as the Christian and the Hindu. Out of these 471 graveyards, 50 percent have been closed due to lack of space, while the remaining have very little space available only in the form of ruined graves.

The CDGK has control of around 70 graveyards in the city. Seventeen different authorities administratively control the rest of the graveyards, while certain religious communities have their own graveyards wherein burial of dead belonging to other communities is not allowed.

The city’s major graveyards - PECHS Graveyard, Sakhi Hassan Graveyard, Mewa Shah Graveyard, Paposh Nagar Graveyard, Hassan Square Graveyard, Essa Nagri Graveyard, Bhangoriya Goth Graveyard, Colony Gate Graveyard, Korangi No 6 Graveyard and Khokhrapar Graveyard - have been officially closed since long, but burials have still been taking place in them.

When contacted, CDGK Municipal Services Executive District Officer Masood Alam told Daily Times that the CDGK was working on a different option, according to which a plot of land was being looked for in the heart of the city.

He said the city was controlled by 17 different agencies such as cantonment boards, Karachi Port Trust, Civil Aviation Authority, Pakistan International Airlines, Defence Officers Housing Authority and others; however, these agencies do not have specific graveyards for the burial of their dead.

Consequently, the burial takes place in the city’s already closed graveyards; therefore, these authorities should also delineate land for graveyards.

He also said the immediate concern was to evict the encroachers so that necessary development work could be initiated there.

As far as the security of the people taking their dead for burial to these distant graveyards was concerned, it could be managed, but the citizens would have no other choice except to take their dead there, he added.

Apart from other businesses, burial of the dead is one of the most promising ones in the city. Old graves that have been abandoned since long or graves that, with the passage of time and due to environmental affects, have been ruined, are replaced with new ones as the spaces of the old graves are sold for new burials.

The authorities concerned should monitor the situation closely and protect these officially closed graveyards. Sooner than you think, these officially closed graveyards would not be able to offer another inch to the dead for burial. The city is on the threshold of such a situation, but, unfortunately, there are no lands in the city for new graveyards. The CDGK had allocated Rs 10 million for the city’s graveyards in the 2006-07 budget, but the project could not get going.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Sindh BoR had in 2006-07 allocated the CDGK a 580-acre land on the Super Highway near the new vegetable market, on which the CDGK had carried out basic development work, but the current status of that land is so far uncertain and there are reports that the land has also been encroached by the land mafia.

In 2006, the CDGK had also received various plots including 400 acres in Deh Choarh; 29 acres in Deh Mull, Malir Town; 45 acres in Rehri; 29 acres in Sector 5, Scheme 33; and 75 acres in Deh Doozan in Sector 44, Scheme 33.

Different committees at town, union council and community levels were also constituted to monitor the situation of graveyards, especially deliberate destruction of abandoned graves, and extortion of money from the aggrieved families. Nonetheless, these committees could not manifest any concrete discipline in connection with their assigned tasks.

Graveyards are considered among sacred premises irrespective of religions. On different occasions, graveyards become one of the most visited places, especially during religious months. There is a dire need for the CDGK and the Sindh government to pay attention to the establishment of graveyards on a few amenity plots.