Voice of China "news vertical and horizontal" report.
In recent years, the price of funeral services has been high, especially for cemeteries, and even more than the price of housing. Some cities strictly control the approval of cemeteries, and even more cemetery hype, "living in Shanghai, buried in Suzhou" and other phenomena have repeatedly caused heated discussions, allowing many people to express their feelings of "death".
On September 7, the Ministry of Civil Affairs promulgated the "Regulations on the Management of Funeral and Funeral Management(Draft for Consultation on the Revised Draft)" and proposed to revise the government's responsibilities, improve basic funeral public services, and strengthen public welfare guidance. The state provides for the establishment of a basic public service system for funeral and burial, covering such basic service items as transportation, temporary storage, cremation, storage of ashes, and ecological burial. Basic funeral and funeral services are provided free of charge to the special hardship case, the recipients of the minimum subsistence allowance, the recipients of special care in difficult circumstances, and other urban and rural needy people.
Three ways to meet the people's need for "peace and security"
In an interview with the Voice of China reporter, Wangjinhua, director of the Social Affairs Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said that in the future, the needs of the people's "death and security" will be met through three methods of burial of ashes and remains to solve the common people's concern about the rise in tomb prices. Can not buy suitable places and other issues.
The first way is not to occupy land, such as sea burial, tree burial, deep burial without graves ... This method is strongly advocated and advocated by the state. The implementation of this method does not require individual spending, and the government can also subsidize it.
The second way is to store a large number of ashes. The government will establish a large number of ashes halls based on villages and villages, collect a little basic management fees, and even charge no fees, and will not cause too much burden on the people.
The third way is to go to the ground. From the point of view of the cemetery, it is divided into public cemetery and operational cemetery. This time, the supply of public interest cemeteries will be increased, and the government will regulate and set prices. The operating cemetery takes market prices, but the government will participate in guiding prices. In this way, individuals need to bear certain costs.
Highlight cemetery public welfare attributes
In recent years, the cemetery tomb location is expensive, covers a lot of land, gravestones and other issues have received much attention. For this reason, the consultation draft has made a series of regulations to strengthen the management of cemeteries and burial halls. For example, in response to the outstanding problems such as expensive prices and environmental protection in the burial process, they have standardized land supply, highlighted public welfare attributes, strengthened price supervision, and standardized daily management.
At the same time, it is stipulated that the construction of cemeteries and ashes halls should be incorporated into planning and management, and the use of land should be guaranteed and the quantity controlled. Clarify the right to approve and approve cemeteries and burial halls, and strengthen the responsibility of "who approves and supervises". Highlight the public welfare attributes of cemeteries, stipulate that priority should be given to the construction of public welfare burial halls, coordinate the construction of public welfare cemeteries, guarantee land by means of allocation, and prohibit the conversion of public welfare cemeteries(burial halls) into operational public welfare halls. It is prohibited to use financial funds ｏｒ to rent land for the construction of a business cemetery(an urn church).
Wangjinhua told the China Voice reporter: "The government's pricing of public welfare cemeteries and burial halls can not be arbitrarily high ｏｒ low. It must be priced by government departments according to the cost of land. The operating cemetery must implement the government-guided price according to the tomb, the land price it has obtained, and the form of land, and it must not be arbitrarily charged ｏｒ arbitrarily raised. There are rules for these. "
Encouraging ecological funeral
With the increasing awareness of environmental protection, ecological funeral has been accepted by more and more people. In order to encourage more people to accept ecological funeral, the consultation draft has clarified some of the contents of the government's payment.
Wangjinhua said: "The government that has buried sea burials, tree burials, flower beds, and earth burials that do not leave graves should be encouraged and rewarded. In addition, certain areas can be divided into woodland and grassland areas. Do not leave graves, The ashes were buried, memorial facilities were established, and related requirements were put forward. For example, like sea burial, relevant regional governments can provide related services, provide thoughtful services for families, and establish memorial facilities to allow future generations to commemorate. "
No restrictions shall be placed on the use of lawful funeral supplies
The situation such as funeral services and the chaotic market for funeral supplies not only damaged the public interests, but also affected the image of the funeral industry. To this end, a series of targeted provisions have also been made in the draft. It shall not be misleading, bundled ｏｒ forced to consume, nor shall it restrict the use of lawful funeral articles and other contents brought with it. The funeral and burial supplies that meet the Environmental Protection requirements brought by the family members can not be banned, nor can they be bundled for consumption. At the same time, there are also requirements for what kind of responsibilities the price department should perform.
Clarify tomb specifications
In addition, in the draft of the consultation, strict restrictions were put forward on the area of the cemetery tomb, the height of the tombstone, and the period of use. Among them, the area of the independent tomb for burial of ashes must not exceed 0.5 square meters, and the area of the burial tomb must not exceed 0.8 square meters. The burial site of the remains(including the burial site) should not exceed 4 square meters. The height of the tombstone must not exceed 0.8 meters on the ground.
On the one hand, the revision of the funeral management regulations will reduce prices and improve services. On the other hand, it will also help to change customs and cultivate the concept of people's support for thin funerals and civilized funerals. Good policy depends on good implementation. This consultation draft has added a special chapter of "supervision and inspection" to punish the "soft boycott" and "negative implementation" that have appeared in funeral reforms in some places in the past.