CNG-powered cremation begins at Cuttack’s Khannagar crematorium

Residents of Cuttack can now opt to cremate the bodies of their near and dear ones by using gas stoves at Khannagar crematorium in the city, sources said on Thursday.

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This eco-friendly initiative, offered under the Cuttack Smart City (CSC) project, aims to reduce pollution and lessen the dependency on wood. Following its inauguration six months ago, the facility finally became operational.

Know the price to use the new facility

The service is available for a fee of Rs 2,000, and each cremation is set to last approximately 45 minutes. Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has invested Rs 4.25 crore to establish this gas-based cremation system.

Although the crematorium’s construction concluded within a year, the start of operations was postponed due to delays in hiring trained staff. The CMC Commissioner has also announced plans to replicate this facility at the Sati Chaura crematorium.

“This was a necessity for Cuttack City. The second one (gas-based cremation facility) is about to be completed at Sati Chaura. We had sought the expense cost from GAIL and they had said it to be around Rs 1,600. Hence, we fixed the price at Rs 2,000. The new facility will help cremation of a number of bodies in a day,” CMC Mayor Subhash Singh said.

“Those who will bring the bodies to this cremation facility will be asked to cremate by using gas-based Chullah (stove). We stopped the use of firewood from today onwards,” the civic body Commissioner, Anam Charan Patra expressed to mediapersons.

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Notably, the new cremation facility was developed by the Gas Authority of India Limited.