The New Nation - Internet Edition

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) is going to open two new graveyards, as there is very little space left for Muslim burial of the vast population of the city in the existing five graveyards, according to the DCC officials concerned.

Presently, a grave is demolished in between eight months to a year for burial of another body, although it is supposed to be excavated after two years for further burial, they added.

According to the DCC estimation, about 100 bodies are buried a day in all the five city graveyards.

Humayun Kabir, a university teacher, who approached the DCC for buying a burial space, said, "There is no space for sale for burial anywhere in the graveyards in Dhaka."

The space crisis is due to the advance purchase of burial spaces by the rich section of the society. Now the DCC is urgently looking for space for the establishment of the new graveyards, said a DCC official.

The space for a grave at Uttara is sold for Tk 1 lakh, at Banani for Tk 60,000, at Azimpur for Tk 35,000 and at the Mirpur and Jurain graveyards for Tk 25,000 each, said, Social Welfare and Cultural Officer of the DCC.

The DCC is not selling any space, as there is no space left in the five graveyards, he added.

As per Shariah Law, the burial space should not be bought permanently. Moreover, the space in Dhaka is significantly decreasing in comparison to the burgeoning population. So, it will be difficult for us to accommodate more bodies in future, if the purchase of burial space is not stopped, said another DCC official.

The DCC takes a negligible charge of Tk 2.30 for child burial, Tk 2.50 for 10 year-old and above and Tk 3.20 for adult

burial- the charges were fixed decades ago, he added.

The charges should be Tk 20, Tk 30 and Tk 50 for the burial of the three categories at present, he remarked.

An on-duty, the DCC official at the Jurain graveyard said, "Space reserved for sale in the graveyard exhausted, but some spaces were sold five to six times over the fixed rate on special considerations."

The five graveyards are-Azimpur old graveyard on 17.5 acres of land and Azimpur new graveyard on 2.5 acres, Mirpur Martyred Intellectuals' graveyard on 65.54 acres of landland, Jurain graveyard on 10.1 acres, Banani graveyard on 4.5 acres and the Uttara graveyard on 1.22 acres of land.

Some local influential quarters with the patronage of a ward commissioner grabbed 23.23 acres of land at the Mirpur graveyard in the name of Muktijoddha Punarbashan Sangstha and the Government filed a writ with the High Court in this regard, said the DCC officials.

Land acquisition process for new graveyards was going on in two areas of Dhaka city- at Aftabnagar for 25 acres at Badda and at Goran Chatbari for 25 acres at Mirpur. The two graveyards may cost about Tk 82.53 crore, they added.

The DCC submitted a proposal to the Planning Commission through the LGRD and Cooperatives Ministry to develop four graveyards around Dhaka city. The Planning Commission later suggested the DCC should again submit proposal for the two graveyards. The DCC then submitted a project proposal last year involving Tk 82.53 crore for the graveyard at Aftab Nagar and Tk 33.62 crore for the one at Goran Chatbari.