"Abandoned
and unmanaged graves are found in almost every cemetery, but recognizing them
as unattended is a long-term process regulated by the municipality.
After a change in
order a few years ago, municipalities have been monitoring abandoned graves
for several years. Although, according to their representatives, virtually no
one has yet been granted the right to be buried in the grave of a another
family, this seems to threaten a number of unattended and abandoned graves.
Relatives are
preferred: there are several rules
As noted by the
representatives of the Ministry of Environment in the comment to the portal,
persons wishing to take over an unattended grave must apply in writing to the
authority supervising the cemetery on the website within 20 working days from
the announcement of the decision to declare the grave unattended.
Until then,
however, a commission set up by the municipality has had to monitor an
abandoned grave for several years and then publish lists of graves with the
status of unsupervised graves. Priority is given to relatives of those buried
there who wish to look after the abandoned grave.
“They have to
indicate the details of the unattended grave they want to maintain,
published on the website. The municipal executive body or a person authorized
by it or a religious community or association shall make a decision on the
maintenance of unsupervised graves within 20 working days of the deadline,
giving priority to relatives of persons buried in the grave and/or
relatives of persons buried in the grave it informs the applicants within 3
working days from the decision-making ”, - the Ministry comments.
If such requests
are not received after the unattended graves are published on the municipal
website, they shall continue to be processed in accordance with the general
procedure. However, if a person gets permission to look after an abandoned
grave, there are several rules that apply to him.
“A person who has
been granted the right to supervise an unsupervised grave in accordance
with the procedure established by the Cemetery Management Rules may apply for a
permit to be buried in an unsupervised grave. A permit for burial in an
unsupervised grave is issued if, according to the Cemetery Management Rules,
it is possible to bury it there and at least 25 years have passed since the end
of the grave resting period,”-said the representatives of the Ministry of Environment.
The resting period
of the tomb, as indicated, is the time during which not cremated human remains
decay to the bones.
“The specific
duration of the grave's rest period in the cemetery, taking into account the
composition of the soil and whether the person buried in the grave had a
dangerous or particularly dangerous infectious disease, is determined by the
cemetery supervisor based on the hydrogeological survey and the National Public
Health Center. The rest period of the grave cannot be less than 25 years,”- the
ministry notes.
There are no
unattended freshly distributed graves yet, but those wishing to maintain the abandoned graves are
already showing up.
According to
Dalius Vadluga, a representative of Panevėžys City Municipality, Delfi has
informed about several hundred abandoned graves in the city cemetery. Of
these, only a few are arranged every year.
There are 162
abandoned graves in the cemetery of Christ the King Cathedral, 208 in
Šilaičiai cemetery.
Normally, a grave receives unsupervised status when it has been not managed for at least
two years, has no monument or plaque with an inscription, and no data on who
was buried there and when. Such graves are also characterized by
dilapidated, overgrown or collapsed buildings, unsupervised grass and bushes.
D. According to
Vadluga, if the grave has not been managed for more than a year, a warning is
given to the person in charge.
If the grave is
still not repaired within a year, the municipality announces it on the website
within 5 working days, all possibly unattended graves are marked in the
Cemetery Information Digitization and Data Management System, and
information stands are placed next to the grave.
According to the
representative of Panevėžys city municipality, not earlier than two and not
later than three years after the publication of the abandoned grave on the
website of the municipality, the commission makes a decision to declare it
unattended.
However, according
to D. Vadluga, there are no such graves in Panevėžys yet. If they occur,
they could be handed over to other people for supervision, who could also be
buried in that place in the future.
However, it is
noted that at least 25 years must have passed since the last burial in the grave, and the new grave caretaker is obliged to preserve the previously
standing monument.
"We have not
yet handed over any unattended graves to others, monitoring is still ongoing,”- says Vadluga.
However, there are those who want to take
over the care of an unmanaged grave. According to a representative of the
municipality, four people applied for such a request last year, and
this year - two so far.
There are no
graves recognized as unsupervised in Klaipėda district yet
A similar
procedure is in Klaipėda district. As Rita Rapalienė, the representative of the
municipality, informed Delfi, if the grave, except for those entered in the
Register of Cultural Heritage, has not been maintained for more than a year,
the cemetery supervisor warns the person responsible for its maintenance in
writing that it is necessary to take care.
"If the
cemetery is not rehabilitated within one year from the date of service, the
cemetery supervisor shall inform the director of the municipal administration
and the religious community or association in writing within 5 working days
(if known): name of the cemetery, quarter number, grave number, names of
persons buried in the grave, dates of burial, date of last burial of human
remains in the grave, grave rest period, grave dimensions, number of buried
people and dates of reconstruction”, - the municipality replies.
After that, the
director of the municipal administration publishes the data on the possibly
unattended grave on the municipal website within 5 days.
“The decision on
recognizing a grave as an unsupervised grave shall be made by a
commission formed by the director of the municipal administration in accordance
with the procedure established in the Description of the Procedure for Issuing
Permits for Burial in Uncontrolled Graves not earlier than 2 years and not
later than 3 years after the publication of data on a potentially unsupervised grave on the municipal website.
The director of
the municipal administration or his/her authorized person shall submit the
data of the cemeteries as unattended and the date of the decision on their
recognition as unattended to the cemetery supervisor and publish it on the
municipal website within 3 working days, indicating the date of publication.
However, according
to R. Rapalienė, such graves in Klaipėda district have not been announced
yet.
Dozens of graves were declared unattended in Kaunas district
Jurgita Makarienė,
a representative of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Kaunas
District Municipality, stated that abandoned graves are officially recorded
and monitored in the only old cemetery in Raudondvaris, according to the
initiative of the eldership.
„2019 a commission
was formed in May because the eldership provided us with data that there were
unsupervised graves, there were 16 graves on their list. The elders, seeing that they are not supervised, have to warn the caretakers of the graves, but they did
not know them, they put the notes to fix the grave,”-said J. Makarienė.
The information notices also, according to her, indicated informing the eldership about the
arranged grave.
"One year
after the notices were set, no one responded, so the eldership forwarded the
list to the municipality so that we could carry out the whole procedure. Our
commission went two years to inspect every three months, we took photos of
those graves and two years later, 14 of the 16 graves remained unattended. We
recognized them as unsupervised," - said a representative of the
municipality.
The procedure is
continued by the eldership, as explained by the interlocutor. It can be
contacted by people who want to take over the maintenance of unsupervised
cemeteries in the old cemetery of Raudondvaris.
“There is a wish
of the eldership if you want to take. This is where Raudondvaris
started, and we called on other elderships as well,” -J. Makarienė noted.
Capital: There are
those who want to take over some of the graves, but the procedures are
still ongoing
Judita
Nauckuvienė, a representative of Vilnius City Municipality, said in Delfi that
there are no graves in the capital's cemeteries that have been approved as
unsupervised yet, but there are a lot of monitored ones.
"They are
being monitored in 2020. In 2022, two years will pass after Mother's Day and we
will be able to process the documents and, if the commission finds that this is
indeed the case, publish them and allow the residents to choose them,” - said the
representative of the municipality.
According to her,
there are currently many abandoned graves in the capital that are being
monitored.
“Until that
deadline has passed, I could not say the exact number. Observations are taking
place, signs are being erected in the cemeteries stating that it is an
abandoned and unmaintained grave. There is also information that it will be
announced on the bulletin board of the cemetery administration, on the website of
the municipality,”- J. Nauckuvienė explained.
An employee of
Vilnius City Municipality admitted that people sometimes damage the signs built
by the municipality.
“Someone pulls out
and people don’t really want them to be built there. There is no explanation for
that,"- he said.
J. Nauckuvienė said that by 2020, when
abandoned graves were started to be monitored according to the described
procedure, there were people who wanted to take over such graves.
"It simply
came to our notice then. In the past, we did not hand them over to another
family until the order approved by the resolution of the Government, but now
that the order has been established, things will probably move," - the
representative of the capital added."
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