Punjabi Bagh becomes capital’s first Covid-only crematorium

NEW DELHI: With the number of deaths due to the novel coronavirus rising, west Delhi’s biggest crematorium in Punjabi Bagh has become the capital’s first corona-exclusive cremation ground.
The decision to bar non-Covid cremations at this site has been taken to prevent any crowding and mixing of people who have come in contact with Covid-19 patients, a senior official of South Delhi Municipal Corporation said.
Punjabi Bagh alone is now receiving 40-50 bodies daily for corona-protocol funerals, he added. It has 71 platforms for wood-based funerals and four CNG furnaces.
Relatives of other deceased will have to look for smaller facilities for the time being. “People who want to carry out a non-Covid funeral can go to the Keshopur facility, which has 24 platforms, Subhash Nagar with 40 platforms or Bindapur Pankha Road with 12 platforms,” the official added.
To handle the pressure of more corona-protocol funerals, the municipal corporations are carrying out various changes in the management of the Covid-19 designated crematoria. To reduce the rush at the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium, the cremation grounds in east Delhi’s Seemapuri and Ghazipur have been allowed to handle Covid-19 bodies.
The spokesperson of East Delhi Municipal Corporation, Arun Kumar, said the north corporation had requested them to identify some sites in addition to Karkardooma to handle Covid-19 bodies as its facilities were getting overloaded. “The sites in Ghazipur and Seempauri have been notified and will be attached to specific hospitals,” Kumar added.
Jai Prakash, the standing committee chairperson of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said the Nigambodh facility was receiving corona bodies from the entire east and north Delhi. Hence, the corporation has requested both east and south corporations to ramp up arrangements. The north corporation has, however, clarified no body would be refused.
“An order has been issued by the east corporation and endorsed by the north just to avoid clustering of bodies, delay in cremation and inconvenience to the mourners as all bodies from the trans-Yamuna area were coming to Nigambodh Ghat,” an official said.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation is now focusing on building three compressed natural gas crematoria, proposed in last year’s budget in Dwarka Sector 24, Green Park and Subhash Nagar.