As India’s capital struggles to meet the rising demand for funerals, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation is planning to build temporary human funeral pyre platforms on the site of the city’s first municipal dog crematorium.
The civic bodies are struggling for space for funerals of Covid patients as the number of Covid-protocol funerals hits 700 a day, reported the Times of India.
The newspaper said that the administration in New Delhi is now mulling to convert a dog crematorium in Dwarka Sector-29 into temporary pyre platforms for human funerals.
“Temporary pyre platforms will be developed to cater to additional bodies. We are witnessing an increase of over 15-20% in cremations daily,” said a corporation official.
The 3.5-acre dog crematorium site is yet to be put into operation. The cremation prices for this upcoming animal crematorium were sanctioned by the civic body about six months ago.
The number of funeral pyres set aside for the Covid bodies was raised from 650 to 773 last week and currently stands at 882 bodies per day. “With around 700 bodies already being cremated, we have to prepare for 1,000 bodies a day in advance to avoid chaos. We have also identified sites along the Yamuna to increase the capacity,” an official told Times of India.
