JAMMU, Sept 26: The electric crematorium set up at Jogi Gate close to a decade ago with an objective of saving the green gold and cremating the bodies in eco friendly manner has turned out to be a liability rather than an asset.
JMC Jammu invested Rs 18 lacs of its limited resources and constructed electric crematorium, the first ever in the state at Jogi gate Jammu.
According to sources, it was thrown open for public use in April 2007. It remained in use from April 2007 to 7th July 2008 when 42 bodies, most of them unclaimed, brought in by Sewa Samiti, a social organisation, were cremated.
Having remained defunct from July 7, 2008 to Feb. 2010, 34 dead bodies were cremated till June 2010. The crematorium use is limited to the unclaimed dead bodies brought by Sewa Samiti with general public cremating the bodies by lighting pyre as people are reluctant to forgo age old rituals and traditions which have their origin in religious beliefs.
Makhan Lal, a pandit said, "As per religion we cannot cremate the dead body like this as we have to perform so many rituals for a religious send off to our dead." Because of lack of use, the crematorium is lying in dilapidated condition reducing it to a liability. Data collected from forest department reveals that, since 2007, the year when crematorium was commissioned, to year 2012, Shanti Ghat Jogi gate consumed 32,974.63 quintals of firewood; Shanti Ghat Shastri Nagar & Shanti Ghat Shakti Nagar consumed 5,602.94 quintals and 2416.88 quintals respectively in two financial years 2010 - 2012. A total of 40,994.45 quintals of firewood with expenditure under head 'firewood' of Rs 52, 97,094.00 was used. Average firewood yield of normal size tree of broad leaves is 12 to 15 quintals and that of conifer trees is 40 to 50 quintals. At the rate, many trees have been sacrificed to yield the huge quantity of firewood for Shanti Ghats. It is pertinent to mention here as per India State of Forest Report 2011, India has lost 367 square kms of forest cover in the past two years. Though the department maintains that firewood for Shanti Ghats is extracted from fallen or uprooted trees, it is to every one's knowledge that there is high demand of firewood for cooking purpose across the country by low income groups. Director Mother the Nature, a social organisation and former IGP S. S. Bijral said, "As this electric crematorium is the only one of its kind in Jammu, so people should realise its importance and awareness should be spread among people to make full use of this crematorium to cremate their dead." He urged the effective use of existing electric crematorium to ease mounting pressure on our limited resources of green cover.
When contacted, JMC authorities maintained that the crematorium was functional, but people were reluctant to put it to use. |
