The proposed gas crematorium at Payyambalam here may be the Corporation’s much-awaited project that continues to appear in its annual Budgets, but the urgency of making the project a reality has now dawned upon the Corporation authorities following a recent incident of irate relatives of a deceased and their well-wishers barging into the Corporation council hall during its meeting and staging a protest against the shortage of firewood and coconut shells used for burning bodies at the cremation ground.
Dramatic scenes
The council hall witnessed the dramatic scenes a few days ago when the protesters, including two Congress activists, entered the hall and said they had to keep the body for hours before it was taken for cremation owing to the shortage of materials.
The Corporation authorities admit that it was a failure on the part of the officials not to ensure that there was adequate stock of materials before the onset of monsoon.
“The contractor who does the cremation-related work failed to secure adequate amount of firewood and coconut shells by April-May and officials concerned have failed to ensure that,” Deputy Mayor P.K. Ragesh told The Hindu. The materials could have been collected locally if the officials took timely steps, he said, adding that the Corporation was now planning to turn the proposal for a gas crematorium into reality.
A ₹3.48-crore project for gas crematorium has already been submitted to the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) for sanction. Earlier, the proposal used to be included in the Corporation’s (earlier a municipality) Budget on anticipation of funds from the government’s budgetary allocation. This fiscal, the Corporation earmarked in its Budget ₹1 crore of its own fund and Plan fund for the gas crematorium project, said Mr. Ragesh, an Independent with the Left Democratic Front (LDF). Even if the project was not approved by the KIIFB, the Corporation would go ahead with the project, he said.
“During the previous United Democratic Front government, there was a ₹2-crore proposal for the gas crematorium, but that could not be proceeded as the LDF came into power,” T.O. Mohanan, chairman of the Corporation standing committee (public works) said, adding that the present Corporation authorities led by the LDF had not initiated anything to make it real. He also alleged that excessive politicisation of the Corporation authorities, including Mayor E.P. Latha, was a major obstacle to implementing projects.