During times of financial recession, the primary grievance of any low-income family is the insurmountable rise in the costs of living yet when a sudden loss of a loved one depletes the scarce resources of an underprivileged household in the absence of adequate free of cost hearse services, death too can be rendered a true albeit unusual luxury. Once such family was that of Hasan, who recently succumbed to his terminal illness. Hasan's son, Waleed, shared his family's distressful experience managing the funeral expenses of his father.
"My father had to be buried at the Malir Cemetery, which is approximately 27 kilometres away from our house in Liaquatabad. The funeral bus service from a private organization charged us Rs15,000 for the journey. Our total expenses from burial to the Soyam exceeded Rs0.
2 million," revealed Waleed, who paid Rs10,000 for a hearse for his uncle's funeral just a couple of months ago. Similarly, Akhtar Hussain, a mechanic belonging to a low-income family, narrated the tough ordeal that he encountered when he had to bury his late mother. "Without the support of my relatives and a welfare organization it would have been impossible to manage the funeral expenses.
There are no coordinated arrangements for free graves and funeral buses at the official and welfare levels in Karachi, making it challenging for poor families to cope with the financial burden," shared Hussain. According to Nasir Khan, a social leader, the Sindh government must provide free buri.