Stopped care is crying in the largest cemeteries in Budapest
It is no longer possible to order a grave, they are trying to solve it within the family – this is the answer that will be given to those who want to put the deceased in order for a while, or will keep it in the largest cemetery in Budapest, the New Public Cemetery. Nor is it the only cemetery where this possibility has been temporarily removed. The Budapest Funeral Institute (BTI) website puts itthat the tomb is “currently limited in availability” due to “technical” care, and visitors are asked to inquire first at the appropriate cemetery that they would always go in person in the belief that, as usual, they could order the service.
The care of the grave typically consists of degassing and planting the grave with various seasonal flowers, cultivating the plants, watering, hoeing, or spraying gravel, washing the grave and decorating it with pine branches around Christmas. The services you want a catalog detailed. Grave care is typically ordered by people who want an important grave or graves to be in a worthy condition, but because of their own age and health, the work has not been confirmed.
We contacted BTI and the Budapest Public Utilities Nonprofit Ltd. behind it. According to the response of the BKM BTI Funeral Division, the situation has developed
“The root cause can be traced back to the institution of the municipal fee stop”.
The government decided on a fee stop at the end of 2020, the essence of the measure is that local governments or the organizations and companies maintained by them may not increase their services or set a new fee.
According to the answer, one of the consequences is that municipal companies that provide the relevant market services with the help of a subcontractor “cannot increase their commission rates to contractors who are often heavily exposed to market changes, which in some cases makes it impossible, in many cases termination of subcontracting.
There was a call for tenders, no candidate
In this case, the burial partner of the funeral division indicated in the second half of last year that he wished to exercise his right to the contract. By mutual agreement, the contractual relationship will end on 31 May this year, so “the partner company could not take on the tasks that require continuous care in the cemeteries affected by the contract,” they explained in a reply sent to Telex.
The company is announcing a public procurement so that I know the care of the grave all the time, but the procedure was invalid in the absence of bidders. “It is important to emphasize that the care of the grave is not suitable for a public service and there are no legal obligations, it can use the activity from many other companies,” they wrote. At the same time, they keep trying. “The BTI Funeral Division of Budapest Public Utilities is once again announcing the public procurement procedure for the care of the grave.
The BTI will do its utmost to successfully close the re-application as soon as possible and to re-perform grave care if relatives so request, ”they wrote.
The funeral division also includes a total of 14 public cemeteries in Budapest. The problem affects larger cemeteries, otherwise there are typical self-sustaining sites where grave care is also provided by their own workers. According to the answer, these cemeteries (Angeli út cemetery, Tamás utca cemetery, Cinkotai cemetery, Budafok cemetery) can usually inspect this service in-house due to their smaller size.
They can look for another provider if they can
“The use of the grave care service has shown a decline based on the trends of recent years,” they noted. In 2021, a total of less than 3,000 different care items were ordered for resting places. This number of 3000 does not mean that there were so many ordering families, the number of them is significantly less, because, as they wrote, there have been cases where the elements of the grave have been ordered more than once. Last year, a total of 657 orders were placed in the New Public Cemetery for grave care services or service elements (implantation, hoeing).
Those who in the current situation cannot redeem these jobs on their own and cannot find help within the family can try to entrust other market participants with the care of the grave, but most could not arrange it in the usual way, in the cemetery office, but instead have to map it themselves. possible service providers.