Bhubaneswar: Even as the state capital is witnessing an alarming rise in COVID caseload and even in number of fatalities, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) initiative of constructing two new crematoriums to deal with a larger number of deaths still remains in limbo.
Earlier, in October last year, the city witnessed a massive spike in COVID cases. Consequently, several dead bodies were reported to have accumulated at the only crematorium in the City at Satya Nagar. Keeping this in view, the BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary had declared setting up of two more crematoriums – one in Patia and another in Khandagiri – to reduce the burden on the Satya Nagar crematorium.
“Number of cremations at Satya Nagar crematorium has gone up abnormally due to COVID deaths. Thus, two new crematoriums will be built at Patia and in Aigina, Khandagiri. While the crematorium at Patia will be gas-based, the one at Khandagiri will run on electricity. Both crematoriums will come up within one-and-a-half months,” Chaudhary had stated then.
Six months since the announcement, a second and more insidious COVID wave is sweeping the country, but no progress has been made on the construction of the two crematoriums. Officials at the BMC revealed that while the proposed crematorium at Patia has run into certain technical problems, the one at Khandagiri is facing hurdles in terms of land acquisition. As a result, both the crematoriums are yet to see the light of the day.
“We have almost completed 80% of the work at the Patia crematorium. Presently we are facing a problem in setting up a 100 foot chimney for the furnace, which hopefully will be resolved in a week’s time. Once the chimney is erected, the crematorium will start functioning within a month. However, it will take another six months for the crematorium at Aigina to become operational as there are certain legal challenges in land acquisition,” a senior BMC official said.
It may be mentioned that the Satya Nagar crematorium has two furnaces of which one runs on electricity, while the other uses firewood. During October 2020, the BMC was reportedly receiving nearly 25 bodies every day and cremation was only done through firewood following the failure of the electric furnace. The situation had become so grim that the locals approached the Odisha Human Rights Commission complaining about severe air pollution in the area due to excessive smoke from pyres.
Aviral Mishra, OP