Cyclone Amphan completely damaged 20 wooden pyres

Kolkata: Cyclone Amphan completely damaged 20 wooden pyre crematoriums in the parts of the state left affected by cyclone Amphan.

It was in 2017, the state government had taken up the project to set up one electric crematorium in every district and one wooden pyre in each block. The initiative was taken following Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's direction as rural populace had to cremate their near and dear ones in open fields or had to carry the mortal remains to a crematorium situated in a far of place. Each of the wooden pyre crematoriums were constructed at a cost of around Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.

According to a senior official of the Public Works Department, preliminary assessment has revealed that around 20 such wooden pyre crematoriums were almost washed away due to the cyclone.

The issue had come up in a meeting on assessment of damage caused by the cyclone, officials of state PWD's Social Sector section informed the department's top brass about the damage caused to the crematoriums.

"Before construction of these wooden pyres in rural parts of the state, cremation used to take place on open fields that was cause of concern for many. The situation had changed with the development took place in the past nine years," said the officer adding that they are looking into possibilities of reconstructing the same at the earliest. But it would take some time as there are other priority areas.

Once those work is done, the work of rebuilding the infrastructure of wooden pyres may be taken up.

The 20 wooden pyres

those were damaged were mainly in North and South 24-Parganas. However, the electric crematoriums remained unaffected as those were mostly housed in two storeyed concrete building. All the crematoriums under the project was constructed based on one particular design.