Scare makes people prefer electric crematorium

LUCKNOW: The coronavirus outbreak has had an impact on the ‘cremation style’ of the dead, too, with more and more people preferring the electric crematorium instead of the traditional ‘burning of bodies’ with wood.

Ram Nagina Tripathi, incharge of electric crematorium at Bhainsakund, said, “After the coronavirus outbreak, the demand for the electric crematorium has gone up. Against one to two bodies per day, now around 12 to 14 bodies are cremated in the electric crematorium in a day. Although, these bodies are not infected with coronavirus, but citizens are following this scientific approach as suggested by ICMR, AIIMS and SGPGIMS experts to counter the spread of the virus.”

He said this approach of the people has resulted in reduction in cremation of bodies with wood. Against 45 to 50 bodies per day only 20 to 25 bodies are being cremated with wood at Bhainsakund, resulting in unused wood atBhainsakund, Gulalaghat and Alambagh Shamshan Ghat. Some of the bodies are also being cremated at other crematoriums of the city, he said.

Speaking on the issue, municipal commissioner Indramani Tripathi said, “Experts of the department of forensic medicine and toxicology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi released a specific protocol for safe management of dead bodies, including the virus infected ones, and the LMC staff has been directed to follow these guidelines strictly. Our staff is maintaining a reasonable distance from the people carrying bodies.

Presently, we are allowing only five people with a body, besides we are sanitising every wood platform once the body is burnt. Not only that, the electric crematorium is also sanitised after each body cremation.”

“We don’t want to take any chances with the health of people serving at the crematoriums and also those coming with bodies,” he said.

Indramani added: “The experts have recommended complete elimination of chances of infection in bodies in either electric or gas crematoriums by burning them in the zipped body bag itself. They have also recommended cremating bodies at high temperature in the electric crematoriums. However, till now no coronavirus infected body has came for cremation at Bhaisakund.”