Thursday, June 02, 2011
LAHORE
Despite a lapse of three years, the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) has been unsuccessful in purchasing four pieces of land for Miani Sahab Graveyard Phase-II, The News has learnt.
The CDGL has been trying to purchase the land for construction of Miani Sahah Graveyard Phase-II project for past three years but the authorities have only identified the locations of lands for the graveyard.
In a city where living is becoming expensive with every passing day, death has become even costlier. In Lahore, where about 70 percent people live in houses on rent, they have to buy land for their eternal resting place. A grave costs between Rs10,000 to Rs15,000 at present which is beyond the reach of the impoverished majority.
With city graveyards devoid of anymore space for graves, it has become difficult to arrange for a grave once someone dies.
There are over 350 big and small graveyards in the provincial metropolis, out of which Miani Sahib is the biggest as well as oldest. Most of the existing graveyards are suffering from disrepair and are in a state of dilapidation.
The biggest graveyard of the city, Miani Sahab, located on Bahawalpur Road, ran out of space sometime back, leaving citizens puzzled over the funeral arrangements of their loved ones.
Miani Sahib has been divided into seven blocks – each block named after some famous writer, scholar or sufi. The graveyard was basically stretched over 175 acres in the last century but now only a 100-acre is left. The rest of the land is encroached upon by different communities and Qabza groups.
The graveyard mafia has encroached upon a large portion of land in the graveyards, constructing boundary walls around them and covering large portions of the cemeteries.
The land grabbers have also made shops, houses and other edifices on caved-in graves, both outside as well as inside the boundary walls. Even drug addicts have been found stealing the shrouds and sheet of cloth to make money in the dark. Local authorities responsible for the maintenance of graveyards have miserably failed to maintain their sanctity.
The issue of shortage of land emerged some four years back, and since then the City District Government has been ‘searching’ for a suitable replacement of Miani Sahib graveyard. The new project was named as Miani II. Grave diggers are also taking full advantage of the situation and extract handsome amount from relatives of the dead for a piece of land. The grave diggers, who virtually rule the graveyards, reportedly go to the extent of making fake graves. Besides, as per the rules of the CDGL, all the housing societies being constructed in private and public sector are bound to reserve two per cent of the total land for graveyards but this rule has not been followed by the most of the grave diggers. The CDGL has been working on the project for the last three years but it could not find a specific big place for new graveyard. Now two pieces of land have been proposed for Miani Sahab graveyard phase II. DDO City (Revenue) Amna said two pieces of land had been proposed – one in Kahna and second in Shahdara area. The land would be purchased soon, she said and added that two more pieces of land would be proposed by the DDO (Revenue) Cantt.
The DDO said that all documentation had been almost completed and the construction of new graveyard phase II would start just after the department got payment from the CDGL.
This correspondent made repeated attempts to contact District Coordination Officer (DCO) Ahad Cheema for his version on the issue but to no avail.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=50289&Cat=5&dt=6/2/2011
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