DERA GHAZI KHAN-PC-I of Sher-e-Khamoshan Model Graveyard to be established at Kotla Sikhani Gharbi area of DG Khan city has been prepared and the project will be completed at a cost Rs190 million.
The project will facilitate 0.87 million population of the city upon completion, claimed Deputy Commissioner Malik Iqbal Mazher.
The DC informed that the Executive Engineer, LG&CD Civil Division DG Khan has prepared the PC-1 for the establishment of the model graveyard.
He said that the project is being set up to facilitate the lower and middle class people who have to suffer a lot for the burial of their loved ones, starting from bathing of the dead body, providing a coffin, buying land for the grave, taking the dead body from the place where the funeral took place to the graveyard is an arduous task for the families of the deceased who are already in a state of mourning.
As per PC-1 estimate, Admin / Mortuary Block to cost Rs13.86 million, Janazagah, ablution area & toilet block to cost Rs33.33 million, storage shed to cost Rs7.66 million, dormitory to cost Rs3.21 million, boundary wall to cost Rs50.88 million, PCC tuff paver, cobbles, toe wall & cerb stone to cost Rs8.68 million, Diesel Generator 100 KVA to cost Rs5.43 million, mortuary equipment to cost Rs16.21 million and water supply & sewerage to cost Rs16.21. The Punjab government has provided a grant of Rs24.811 million as first instalment for the project to be completed by June-2021.
Social benefit of this project is that families of those buried in the graveyard will be able to locate graves of their loved ones through the use of computerized records, facilities of ambulance services, washing the dead body, provision of cold storage, funeral prayer area and burial spot will all be present at one location. The cold storage in the graveyard will have a capacity of storing 16 dead bodies at a time.
Talking to The Nation, DC Iqbal Mazher said that the existing graveyards had been planned in 1913 keeping in view the population of DG Khan at that. “Now the population has increased manifold but graveyards could not be developed accordingly to cater for the population,” he pointed out. He claimed that the project will definitely create some job opportunities, adding that after completion of the project, all its operation, monitoring and maintenance would be managed by the Shaher-e-Khamoshan Authority or the concerned Municipal committee / Zila Council Committee DG Khan.