KARACHI: Administrator Karachi Laeeq Ahmed on Wednesday said that the Central Committee and sub committees had been formed to improve the condition of cemeteries, end the monopoly of the mafia and to facilitate the process of burial in the city graveyards.
“The cooperation and collaboration of civil society and social and welfare organizations had also been obtained so that the complaints regarding the cemeteries of the citizens could be resolved,” the administrator said this during signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sailani Welfare Trust and Jaffaria Disaster Management Cell (JDC) Welfare Foundation on the management of new cemeteries.
Sailani Welfare Trust President Yousuf Lakhani, Managing Committee Member Munawar Younis, CEO Muhammad Ghazal, JDC General Secretary Zafar Abbas, Senior Director Coordination Khalid Khan, Central Committee Convener and Director Media Management Ali Hassan Sajid, Director Cemetery Iqbal Pervez, Deputy Director Sarwar Alam and other officers were also present on the occasion.
The administrator Karachi said that citizens should get graves in cemeteries at government rates. “We need to take the right steps regarding the improvement and management of cemeteries,” he added. Ahmed said that a memorandum of understanding had been signed with the welfare agencies to improve the condition of the cemeteries.
He said that two new model cemeteries had been set up at Link Road of National Highway and Mowach Goth Baldia Town in collaboration with social organizations. He said that the existing cemeteries were insufficient in terms of population of Karachi, so new graveyards needed to be built so that the people could easily bury their loved ones.
The administrator said that they were grateful to Sailani Welfare Trust and JDC for realizing this basic need of the citizens and signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the KMC.
Ahmed also invited other welfare agencies to come forward to improve the condition of cemeteries and share with KMC in the best interest of the citizens. “We must not lose sight of the fact that our final destination is the grave and we should try to make the funeral process better and easier,” he added.
Director Cemetery Iqbal Pervez said that there are 203 cemeteries in the city of which 89 are under management of various associations and societies while 49 are registered with KMC. He added that there 50 unregistered cemeteries, out of which 11 are in Central District and two in East, 13 in West, 9 in Malir and 4 in Korangi.
Pervaiz said that most of the cemeteries have been completely filled and there is no room for further burials, so there is a need to build new cemeteries.
JDC General Secretary Zafar Abbas said that the situation has changed due to Cove-19 and the increase in the death rate has also led to an increase in the number of bodies being brought for burial in cemeteries. There is a good effort by social and welfare organizations to improve the condition of cemeteries.