Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi inaugurated a CNG-powered (Compressed Natural Gas) crematorium at Dharmavihar near Khandagiri in Bhubaneswar on Friday.
The crematorium, which has two chambers for simultaneous cremation, has been made in collaboration with the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL). The Central government PSU has supplied all the equipment including supply pipes and burners through which CNG will be fired.
The body will be put on a trolley and it will be sent inside the fire chamber where bamboos would be there. Once the body catches fire, the empty trolley will be pulled out from the chamber.
The in-charge of the crematorium said, “The system is based on CNG. And there will be no environmental pollution. We will release the smoke to the environment only after filtering the harmful chemicals and gases. It will take less than an hour to complete the process of one cremation.”
After Dharmavihar, two other similar crematoriums will shortly be inaugurated at Ainginia in Bhubaneswar and Khannagar in Cuttack.
Meanwhile, politics heated up after the Bhubaneswar Mayor opted to give the inauguration a miss.
Alleging politicisation by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) led-Odisha government and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Sarangi said “I am surprised that nobody from the BMC attended the inauguration despite sending them invitations. The Mayor should have taken the key to this crematorium from us. But we were forced to give the keys to the Corporator.”
“Development has no political allegiance. And I hope the Mayor will keep that in mind and help us in the development of Bhubaneswar,” she added.
Neither the Mayor nor any BMC authorities were available for comments on the matter.