Puri Swargadwar Gets A Facelift; Adminstration Conducts Cremation Dry Run

Puri: State’s most famous religious cremation ground-Swargadwar here in the pilgrim town has received a complete makeover with revamp and construction of more funeral grounds for smooth cremation of more number of bodies simultaneously and conduct of associated rituals by the pall-bearers.

Puri district authority on Thursday held a dry run of the cremation at the revamped site in presence of Collector Samarth Verma and other administrative officials. It may be noted here that the Swargadwar has been revamped on the lines of the famous crematorium ‘Mahaprasthanam’ of Telangana.

The dry run conducted with only burning of timbers at multiple places inside the ground was conducted in order to examine the facilities for the funeral rites at the Swargadwar.

An official said the purpose of the test run was to check the effectiveness of the facilities including additional funeral pyre spots, locker to store ‘Asthi’ (bones), rest-sheds for pall-bearers, drinking water facilities, special venues for conduct of death rituals, CCTV cameras, and toilets.

Odisha Government had earlier sanctioned Rs 5 crore from the Chief Minister Relief Fund in 2019 for the refurbishment of the Swargadwar.