East Delhi municipal corporation plans to install CNG furnaces at two crematoria

NEW DELHI: Facing problems in cremating or burying bodies of Covid-19 victims on time till last month, East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has started sprucing up its arrangements such as creating additional space at two burial grounds and working on a project to install CNG furnaces at two crematoria.
Each of the crematoria at Karkardooma and Ghazipur will have two furnaces and the project will be completed in two months. Currently these two as well as a crematorium at Seemapuri are dedicated for Covid-19 — confirmed or suspected — victims’ bodies.Once operational, the eco-friendly facilities in east Delhi will help the civic agency reduce its dependency on the north corporation and speed up the cremation process, said officials.
“Till the beginning of June, we had a tough time in cremation and burial of infected patients’ bodies as the staff needed to check with the north civic body every time for availability of space at Nigambodh Ghat and burial ground at ITO. Finally we started working on our projects,” said an EDMC Official.
“For the Karkardooma cremation ground, Dharmashila Hospital will donate two furnaces and the department has held meetings with Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) for providing CNG connections. We are targeting to make the facility fully operational in 60 days,” said EDMC mayor Nirmal Jain.
He added that IGL has already laid a pipeline till a point in Ghazipur crematorium. “So we will just require connection once the furnaces are installed. Regarding CNG furnaces and its installation, we have invited tenders and changes will be visible by October-end,” said the official.
In mid-June, the two burial grounds of EDMC dedicated for Covid-19 and suspected cases at Mulla Colony and Bulland Masjid ran out of space. “The engineering department was successful in levelling the limited space available at the corners of the premises. This has helped us to create additional space for performing last rites of around 40 bodies. Every day we are getting one to two inquiries and those are entertained now,” said Sandeep Kapoor, former standing committee chairman.