General upkeep: DHA allots land in Ph VIII for graveyard

Vigilance staff to help keep Khayaban-e-Shamsheer one-way.

KARACHI: The Defence Housing Authority (DHA) is allotting land in Phase VIII for a graveyard after residents complained that existing cemeteries are almost filled.

“I have given orders to my officials to make the land available. I can’t say anything about its location at the moment,” said Brigadier Aamer Raza, the DHA Administrator.

He recently chaired a meeting with the Association of Defence Residents (ADR), which had come to discuss at least 20 of their issues.

Gizri is the last graveyard in DHA and Clifton limits. No more spaces are left for burials and graves are being carved out by cutting into the rocky hill.

A member of the ADR, Asad Kizilbash, said the piece of land reserved for a graveyard in Phase VIII was used for flats. “We have been told that another plot is being allotted and it will be ready for burials by June 2012.”

The Cantonment Board Clifton is also trying to get land for a graveyard. Located in Defense Phase VII’s extension, the plot measuring around 2,500 square yards - as big as an average house in DHA - is located beside Qayumabad. But the graveyard has been in limbo since people living in the area don’t want to be moved.

The residents discussed with the administrator the issue of Khayaban-e-Shamsheer, which has been declared a one-way road but where traffic still flows both ways. “It has been decided to involve the DHA vigilance staff to enforce the plan,” Kizilbash said.

The ADR delegation was led by its president, Attique-ur Rehman.

The administrator also informed the residents that DHA had already installed 120 cameras at all entry and exit points. In the next phase, another 250 surveillance cameras would be installed.

The controversial DHA Cogen desalination and power plant would start working by the end of this year. “We have received the technical and financial studies. It can be run efficiently,” Raza said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2012.