Green Crematoriums Being Planned Along The Ganga But Will People Give Up The Traditional Pyre?.
In what will hopefully turn out to be the execution of a long-standing plan, eco-friendly crematoriums are set to come up in villages along the Ganga river.
According to a report in the Times of India, a green crematorium uses only 100 kg of wood per body while the traditional cremation requires up to 600 kg of wood.
In fact, in 2007, the Los Angeles Times had carried a piece on traditional cremation in India which claimed that at least 50 million trees were felled in the country every year to build funeral pyres.
The LA Times article had also mentioned the ‘Green Cremation System’ developed by Mokshda, a non-profit group in Delhi, that uses very little wood and burns the body in one-third the time compared to traditional pyres.
With proper air flow and increased combustion efficiency, these crematoriums work like a wood stove.
The green crematorium initiative plans to check water pollution.
Swami Chidanand Saraswati, who is supervising the initiative in Rishikesh, told the TOI that they will eventually bring down the amount of ashes immersed in the Ganga.
The action plan for the Namami Gange programme that was drawn in 2015 also emphasises the need for eco-friendly cremation methods and the safe disposal of dead bodies.
However, even though the incinerators took less time, less money and used less wood, people preferred the traditional method of cremation.