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Vatuwaqa Cemetery/ Crematorium Dewan Chand, Suva

Reference is made to my letter of 4th July on the above mentioned subject. I am pleased to report that I have had response from Naresh Narayan, Acting Director of Health for Suva City Council. Naresh discussed the cemetery issue with me at length and explained about the type of cemeteries and the organisations responsible for their up-keep and maintenance.

I am now clear in my mind that it is not the city council that is responsible. Vatuwaqa Cemetery/Crematorium are nationally controlled by the Government. The rest of the cemeteries are run by an appointed committee. This means there is involvement of the religious organisations and the community. Thank you Naresh Narayan for clarifying related issues to me.

I understand that the Government has recently contributed funds for building a site near the sea (Just opposite Vatuwaqa Cemetery) for the disposal of ashes by the Hindu community. This generosity of the Government is deeply appreciated.

Now I go back to the issues I raised in my letter of 4th July in which I had pointed out that there is a need to have a serious look at the maintenance and up-keep of this national asset.

It is now clear that the committee responsible is not doing its job. This dereliction of responsibility must be immediately attended to by the authority concerned.

This cemetery simply cannot operate on an ad hoc basis. It becomes a national shame. I urge those on the committee to swing into action and get things done.

Urgent need to have a properly kept and clean toilet, proper house for the security keeper, proper gates for night closure. The most important issue I raised was the need to build modern gas-fired crematorium on user pay basis. There are many ways in which this can be done. Direct government involvement or giving it out to a private consortium to build and run the crematorium. Some business minded people can make suggestion to make this happen.

Some business house may like to undertake this much needed public project.

In Raralevu, Nausori, the committee responsible is in the process of building a modern gas-fired three oven crematorium; that means three dead bodies can be cremated at any one time.

I had a chat with some committee members and was pleasantly surprised of their vision to provide cremation services at an affordable price! This new crematorium will have a hall and seating facility for three hundred people. This committee must be commended for its effort.