Hyderabad: OMG! Wait gets longer for burial ground certificate

Charminar: Applicants in Old City await burial ground receipts issued by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) from several months.

Following which a large number of graveyards are running with non-availability of burial ground receipt, due to this for last several months the applicants are facing problems in applying of death certificates of their deceased one.

Not one or two, but hundreds of applications are pending for applying death certificate for the dead ones in the Old City, but could not apply due to no burial ground receipt. People allege that despite visiting graveyard for the receipt almost every day, the graveyard committee is not issuing the receipts as they lack receipt books in the graveyards.

"My brother succumbed to Covid almost eight months back and was buried at Maqbara Inayath Ali graveyard in Santosh Nagar, and since then I have been visiting the graveyard for the receipt but the graveyard committee send me back saying that they donot habe receipt books. Hence I am able to apply for death certificate," said Mohammed Ikram, a resident of Aliabad.

Same as Ikram, there are several such people who are facing difficulties in for applying death certificates due to the non-availability of burial receipts.

"It has been seven months since we requested the GHMC zone officer for the burial receipt book, but still could not receive it. There are several people coming daily for the receipt and are returning back empty, as the committee lacks receipt book," said Mohammed Mujtaba Ali, a committee member of Maqbara Inayath Ali graveyard at Santosh Nagar.

Relatives of the deceased are running pillar to post for the receipt to apply for death certificate," said Mohammed Ahmed, Vice President Minority Cell, TDP.

He said there are several such graveyards in the Old City including Santosh Nagar, Edi Bazar, Charminar, Moghalpura and other areas under Charminar zone Circle 8 and 9 where there is non-availability of a burial receipt book.

Earlier last month the GHMC commissioner also passed a circular to all Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH), Assistant Medical Officer of Health (AMOH), Zonal commissioners, Deputy commissioners not to delay in issuance of death certificate followed by burial ground receipt books to the graveyard committees in advance, burial receipt to the applicants and to ensure that no such complaints shall be received on the related issue.