Soon, every district & block to have proper cremation facilities

Living up to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's promise of providing proper facilities of cremation in rural parts of Bengal, the state government has decided to set up one electric crematorium in every district and at least one wooden pyre crematorium in every block.

It may be recalled that the Banerjee over and again have spoken about the restoration of crematoriums in remote areas. She said that during her visits to the districts since her early political career, she had seen many half-burnt dead bodies lying in the burning ghats.

She was pained by the sight and for the first time in the country's history, the Mamata Banerjee-government had introduced the Samabyathi scheme to give financial assistance to those who are unable to cremate their near and dear ones. Along with this, rural burial grounds too have been restored.

The state Public Works Department will carry out the construction work of the crematoria and the district magistrates have already been asked to identify lands for the purpose.

According to a senior PWD official, the project to set up crematoria in districts has been taken keeping the rural parts of the state in view where the rural populace cremate their near and dear ones in open fields or carry the mortal remains to a crematorium situated kilometres away from their places. The situation is not such in Kolkata or in its adjoining district and now, the same will be replicated even in the urban areas.

All the crematoria will be constructed based on a particular plan as prepared by the PWD engineers. As per the plan, in each electric crematoria, there will be sufficient space to set up two furnaces. But initially, only one furnace will be set up and the cost of constructing the entire crematorium with one furnace will be around Rs 2 crore. Later, the second furnace will be added in each of the electric crematorium. Each electric crematorium will be developed on a plot of around 1,000 square feet and there will be a requirement of around 500 square feet land for the wooden units.

Following instructions of the Chief Minister, all the new crematoria that will come up in the districts will have a spacious room for mourners. A separate place will be created under a concrete roof to perform all rituals.

In the second phase, a room to set up a 33 KV substation will also be constructed in each of the electric crematorium when the second furnace will be installed. At that time, a separate room for the caretaker will also be constructed.

The official said: "Setting up of a sub-station is not necessary to operate one furnace. But it will become essential when two furnaces will be operational at the same time."

The Social Sector section of the PWD will be carrying out the construction work of the wooden units in every block of the districts.