Delhi government planning to build green crematoriums

New Delhi: Identifying burning of biomass as one of the major sources of pollution in the city, the Delhi government said it has hired an agency to create engineering designs for creating non-polluting crematoria with smoke tappers.

In his letter to Union environment minister Anil Madhav Dave, his counterpart in the Delhi government, Imran Hussain, said that banning the use of wood in crematoria and switching to electric or CNG mode does not appear to be a tenable solution because of religious beliefs.

“In an effort to address the issue, the government of NCT of Delhi has recently undertaken extensive measures to modify the designs of traditional crematoria into green ones with smoke tappers. CSIR National Environment Engineering Research Institute is being tasked with the work of creating engineering designs for creating such non-polluting crematoria,” Mr Hussain said in the letter on Friday.

According to the minister, the burning of biomass during cooking, waste disposal, and cremation activities has been identified as one of the most significant contributors to air pollution in Delhi. He said that cremation alone accounts considerably to air pollution.

Urging the Centre to constitute a technical committee for drafting a model policy for creating a standardised engineering design for green crematoria, he said, “Since cremation practices using wood are not unique to Delhi, I feel that other cities can benefit by creating green crematoria that preserve our age-old traditions and also control air pollution.”

He also asked the Union government to direct the Central Pollution Control Board and state governments to adopt the concept of green crematoria.