Fee hiked for preserving graves, not for burial: Mayor Atiqul

Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam said on Friday that the corporation had raised the fee for preserving graves, not for burials.

At the inauguration of Dhaka North's Uttara Sector-4 cemetery, the mayor explained the reason for the fee increase: "We constantly receive a large number of applications for preserving graves. If all graves are preserved, it will reduce the space available for burials.

"We hope that with the increase in the fee, applications for the preservation of graves will decline significantly and others will get the opportunity to bury their dead."

Pointing out that the burial fee in Dhaka North is reasonable, the mayor said, "The registration fee for burial in the cemeteries under Dhaka North is only Tk500 per body. However, in the case of poor and helpless people, the fee is only Tk100. If a person is unable to pay the Tk100 fee, a free burial is available."

The mayor also announced that a digital database will be created for the graves in Dhaka North.

Dhaka North City Corporation Graveyard Policy came into effect on 18 January 2023. The policy fixed fees including grave preservation charges for 15 years and 25 years in the North City graveyards.

The city corporation raised the leasing fee of a grave in the Dhaka North area to a maximum of Tk1 crore from Tk24 lakh for 15 years and Tk1.5 crore from Tk45 lakh for 25 years.

At present, there are six cemeteries under the Dhaka North City Corporation – Banani Cemetery, Uttara sectors 4, 12 and 14 cemeteries, Mirpur Martyrs' Intellectual Cemetery and the cemetery adjacent to Rayerbazaar mass killing field.

The development works for Uttara Sector-4 cemetery at a cost of Tk4.67 crore began on 9 December 2021 and ended on 30 December 2022.

Established in an area of 1.228 acres, the cemetery can accommodate 5,008 graves.