After 15 months,Bela Road CNG crematorium still out of order

In a Newline report on February 9 last year,MCD Health Officer Dr N K Yadav had said a meeting had been held with the company in-charge of maintaining the crematorium. Repairs would begin next week and the crematorium would be operational in a month,Yadav had added.

When contacted this time,Yadav said,“The operator of the crematorium is admitted in a hospital in Ahmedabad. He will return to Delhi in March and then we will get the things done.”

Crematorium officials told Newsline two of the four CNG pyres at the Bela Road complex can be made functional with just a few days of repair work.

Alpha Equipments is supervising the repair work of the CNG crematoriums in the Capital. Its owner Rajendra Chauhan said,“They (the MCD) are very poor at the operational aspect. We operated the Bela Road crematorium for two years and suffered losses. Even then they did not take charge of it.”

Another CNG cremation facility at Punjabi Bagh has been under construction for long. Deputy Health Officer (DHO) Dr A K Bansal,in-charge of this facility,said,“I do not know why this crematorium is not working. I joined six months ago. ” Of the three CNG crematoriums in the city,only the one at the Nigambodh Ghat is operational. “We re ceive six to seven bodies for cremation per day at the CNG facility at Nigambodh Ghat ,” Dr A K Rawat,DHO in charge of the Civil Lines Zone,said. MCD Public Relation Officer Deep Mathur said: “Depending upon the utilisation of these three CNG crematoriums ,more such units will be established in Delhi. Work on construction of such crematoriums will be taken up at Green Park,Rohini,Sarai Kale Khan,Lodhi Road and Dwarka.”

(The reporter is an EXIMS student)