Residents seek cremation ground shifting

Amritsar, March 6

The Durgiana Committee’s proposed plan to expand Shiv Puri cremation ground, outside the Hathi Gate, has not gone down well with residents.

Former health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla called upon the committee to shift the cremation ground out of the city. She said its present location adjoining the Durgiana Temple became densely populated over the years.

A conventional cremation consumes nearly 250 kg of firewood and takes about six hours to complete the process. Office-bearers of the Durgiana Committee also accepted that the conventional method caused much pollution and added stress on green cover. They informed that the Durgiana Committee was offering free-of-cost cremation at cooking gas-run crematorium but people were reluctant to adopt it.

Environmentalist PS Bhatti favoured shifting of the cremation ground out of the city. He added that earlier the same was situated at Phula Wala Chowk, inside the walled city. He said over 30 bodies were cremated per day and this certainly created pollution. Soot generated by burning of the bodies fell on roads, motorists, passersby and adjoining localities. — TNS