annexures - Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

CHAPTER 8CREMATORIA8.1 INTRODUCTIONCremation grounds are generally located on the banks of rivers. Ash and other wastesgenerated from such cremation grounds are disposed off into the river resulting in theirpollution. Thus, cremation grounds have been identified as one of the sources of pollutionunder river cleaning programmes of MoEF.The focus of MoEF is not only on minimizing river pollution from this source but also to protectand conserve valuable forest resource by upgrading the existing cremation grounds orsupporting new ones with cleaner technologies and higher combustion efficiency having publicacceptance.8.2 METHODS OF CREMATIONThe following three methods are used for cremating dead bodies:(i)(ii)(iii)Conventional method(a) This method has been in use from time immemorial. In this mode cremation is doneon an open platform by burning wood. On an average, about 400 kg of wood isconsumed per cremation. Projections based on the data of census of India –2001indicate that about 4.15 million tonnes of wood equivalent to 50-60 million trees, isconsumed every year in cremating dead bodies. Considering 20% ash in wood,nearly 8.5 lakh tonnes of ash generated from the process find its way into the riverannually.(b) With the increasing cost and dwindling sources of wood, people below poverty linemay resort to dumping dead bodies directly into rivers.(c) Another adverse impact of this method on environment is in terms of emission ofgreenhouse gas – CO2 in significant quantities from wood burning. It is estimatedthat about 8 million tonnes of CO2 is emitted annually from this operation.Electric or Gas Based CrematoriaElectric crematorium (EC) is a cleaner alternative of cremation. But the proposal for ECshould be prepared based on demand from the stakeholders including civil societyImproved Wood Based CrematoriaAs the name suggests, Improved Wood Based Crematoria (IWC) operate in a traditionalmanner on wood only and is capable of saving wood upto 50-60 % as compared to theconventional method. In IWC, cremation is done on a specially designed elevated pyreequipped with a hood and chimney to improve combustion efficiency and minimizewastage of heat, which makes it a fuel-efficient system. It enables users to perform allimportantrituals associated with the cremation process. Thus, besides beingenvironment-friendly and fuel-efficient IWC is a user acceptable method.66