Burial services: Model graveyard being set up in Faisalabad

The graveyard will be constructed over 17 kanals

FAISALABAD: The government is looking to set up model graveyards (Shehr-i-Khamoshan) in five large cities in the province, Chief Minister’s Special Monitoring Unit Head Salman Sufi said at the ground-breaking ceremony of one of the graveyards on Tuesday.

The graveyard will be built near Chak 239-RB, Satiana Road Bypass, and the government has released Rs89.7 million for its construction. Sufi said construction of the graveyard would begin in January and would be completed in at most four months. He said DCO Noorul Amin Mengal would supervise the construction work.

The graveyard will be built over 17 kanals of land. Sufi said in the first phase of the project, model graveyards would be set up in Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Multan and Rawalpindi. He said the model graveyards would have a toll-free helpline, a hearse and shuttle service will transport the deceased and the bereaved family, ghussal arrangements, funeral prayer section, and a mortuary to preserve the body for those waiting for relatives.

He said they would standardise the grave size, and allocate grave sites with adequate distance between graves. There will also be walkways and benches. Graves will be dug using modern machines, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2015.