Vizag’s Lone Electric Crematorium Facing Operational Setbacks
Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) invested over ₹60 lakh on this modern installation, which had been declared fully functional on April 28, 2021.
VISAKHAPATNAM: Visakhapatnam’s Gnanapuram cremation centre houses the city’s only electric crematorium, a facility that attempts to transform traditional cremation practices.
Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) invested over ₹60 lakh on this modern installation, which had been declared fully functional on April 28, 2021. It started addressing the Port City’s escalating crematory requirements, particularly those of unclaimed bodies.
The need for the electric crematorium became more evident after COVID-19 as the safest and most effective means for cremating the deceased, significantly reducing health risks and environmental hazards. Electric crematoriums considerably cut down cremation waiting time, a vital advantage during public health emergencies.
However, the electric crematorium is now non-operational, having suffered repeated technical failures. As a result, Visakhapatnam continues to depend on traditional firewood-based cremations.
Significantly, GVMC officials are facing a severe shortage of firewood in the region, with each cremation consuming approximately 300 kilograms of wood. This reliance on firewood poses operational challenges and raises environmental concerns, as firewood resources are dwindling.
G. Prasanna Kumar, the official in charge of electric crematorium, told Deccan Chronicle that the facility had been operational for a few years before breaking down. “It underwent repairs once, but unfortunately broke down again,” he explained.
According to Prasanna Kumar, concerted efforts are underway to repair and restore the crematorium’s functionality, so that it can handle up to 15 bodies per day, a capacity that would alleviate the delays at the Gnanapuram cremation centre.
The electric crematorium service is more cost-effective, simpler and pollution-free than the conventional firewood method of performing last rites.
GVMC officials have set the cremation fee at ₹3,000 per body. Unclaimed bodies are cremated free of cost.
The electric crematorium’s revival is crucial for meeting the city’s growing cremation demands, while meeting the environmental objectives.
