The cemetery has over 3,000 graves and most of the visible ones are of the British soldiers, indigo farmers and their family members. The 16th century cemetery is currently under the jurisdiction of St. Mary's Cathedral, with 22 churches in the city having representatives as its board members.

The cemetery currently has only one guard who also acts as its caretaker. The 6.5-bigha cemetery has become difficult for the lone guard to maintain it.

Two years back, the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) started construction of a box culvert on the nearby road for which one of the cemetery walls was damaged. WASA guaranteed reconstruction of the wall in a letter to the cemetery board, but reconstruction was delayed and started only recently.

The cemetery walls bear the marks of damage all over. It is not only vandalised, but acts as a shortcut for the local residents, including employees of a juice company. Some people are dumping garbage in the cemetery, while others are using the area as a site for construction materials.

"The WASA contractors have also covered most of the graves, by dumping mud in the cemetery during the construction," said Joseph Amond, cemetery supervisor.

The cemetery board fears the danger of encroachment is imminent. Reportedly, part of the cemetery has already been 'taken over' by a local family. The family has occupied the area for over a few decades now and wants to 'sell' the land back to the cemetery board, unmindful of the fact that the board is the real owner of the land.

"The irresponsibility of WASA and the locals has caused much damage to the cemetery, " Amond said. "We look forward to people's respect for the cemetery," he said.