Management bodies to be formed for KMC graveyards

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) administrator has announced that management committees will be formed to improve the conditions of the city’s graveyards that are under the administrative control of the municipal body.

“The involvement of social and welfare organisations in the management of the cemeteries will improve the situation,” said Laeeq Ahmed on Monday. “Work will start at six graveyards in the first phase, and then expand to the entire city in the following stages.”

Addressing a meeting that was attended by representatives of different social and welfare organisations of the city, Ahmed said that management committees should be formed to supervise the affairs of the cemeteries. The committees will also formulate the procedure to issue certificates, he added.

He said that the committees’ members will serve every citizen without discrimination and provide all possible facilities to those who go to the graveyards for burying their dead.

He identified the following six cemeteries where, he claimed, the situation will change radically after the management committees take over: the Sakhi Hassan graveyard, the Mohammad Shah graveyard in North Karachi, the Essa Nagri graveyard, the Model Colony graveyard, the Tariq Road graveyard and Al-Noor graveyard.

The city administrator said that efforts will also be made to persuade citizens not to insist on burying their dead in graves that are already occupied. Director Graveyards Iqbal Pervez briefed the meeting that the city has 203 cemeteries, including 89 graveyards of different societies, of which 39 are registered and 50 unregistered.

Pervez said that 13 of the registered cemeteries are located in District West, 11 in District Central, nine in District Malir, four in District Korangi and two in District East. He said that although most of these graveyards are full, families insist on burying their dead in cemeteries of their choosing. The situation has changed due to the outbreak of Covid-19 and the increase in the number of deaths, he added.

The administrator said that besides establishing new graveyards, the conditions of the existing ones should also be improved because doing so will solve many of the citizens’ problems.

He said that it is commendable that the social and welfare organisations working in the city have extended a helping hand to improve the conditions of cemeteries. “These organisations are aware of the graveyards’ situation in different parts of the city. Their cooperation in this work will be important.”

He warned that no mafia will be allowed in any of the cemeteries, saying that families have the right to book burial spaces at reasonable rates. A one-window facility will also be introduced for the purpose, he added.

Ahmed said that the issuance of a certificate after a burial has also become a problem that will be addressed by the managing committees, which will formulate a strategy keeping

in view all the rules and regulations.

He hoped that the work that will start at six graveyards in the city will gradually expand to all the other cemeteries, sparing people all the usual hardships in the burial of their dead. “It is among the primary responsibilities of the local bodies to manage the affairs of graveyards, and the KMC will fulfil all of its responsibilities.”

The meeting was also attended by Senior Director Coordination Khalid Khan, Director Land Tariq Siddiqui, Senior Manager Al-Khidmat Manzar Alam, General Secretary Jafaria Disaster Management Cell Zafar Abbas, Faizan Global Foundation’s Yahya Attari, Alamgir Welfare Trust’s Rehan Yaseen and Faheem Anwar, Chhipa Welfare Association’s Arif Jamali and Sajjad, and President Sunni Ittehad Council Khalid Noor.