Dhaka's biggest graveyard by Dec

Signboards showing the site office and army camp set to implement the country's biggest graveyard project at Rayerbazar, Dhaka. File Photo

Dhaka is going to have its biggest graveyard at Rayerbazar ready by December this year to meet growing demand for burial plots in the capital.
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) took up the project in 2011 to accommodate around 80,500 burial plots, said a DNCC official.
Bangladesh Army's 14 Independent Engineering Brigade has been implementing the Tk 505.60 crore scheme covering over 96.23 acres.
The Dhaka deputy commissioner's office has already acquired 77.39 acres and handed over to the DNCC last year, said an official at the DC's office.
The city currently has six official graveyards. Of them, Jurain and Azimpur graveyards fall under the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).
The four under the DNCC are Mirpur Martyred Intellectuals graveyard, Banani graveyard and one each at sectors 4 and 12 in Uttara. But these burial grounds cannot meet rising demand for burial plots in the city.
On an average, around 100 bodies are buried in Azimpur graveyard each day, some 35 to 40 in Jurain, around 30 in Mirpur and two to three in Banani, said city corporation officials.
About 20 bodies are buried in two graveyards at Uttara in a month.
Iqbal Habib, joint secretary of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon, said graveyards totalling around 30 to 40 acres are needed for a population of one lakh.
The population of Dhaka city stands at around 1.35 crore, for which around 4,050 to 5,400 acres of burial land is necessary, he added.
LAND OWNERS FRUSTRATED
Without giving sufficient time to shift the structures from the land acquired for graveyards, authorities evicted people from around 50 houses and structures of the site at Rayerbazar, locals claimed.
Mohammad Delowar Hossain, owner of a 24-katha land, recently told The Daily Star that the authorities had been putting pressure on them to vacate the land.
Refuting the allegations, Sharif Uddin, project director of the graveyard, said they did not evict anyone.
Nazrul Islam, additional land acquisition officer of Dhaka Deputy Commissioner Office, said there were 14 writ petitions filed against the acquisition of land.
The victims had been demanding rehabilitation, he added.