HYDERABAD: Impressed by the development of Mahaprasthanam by Phoenix group at Jubilee Hills in the city, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has initiated the process of modernising crematoria and graveyards in a similar fashion as ‘model graveyards’ by providing better facilities, aesthetic look and pleasant environment for the convenience of the citizens.
In the first phase, the municipal corporation took up development of 17 model graveyards in various parts of the city at an estimated cost of Rs 7.71 crore. The development of a crematorium into a model crematorium envisages protection from encroachments by building a compound wall, erecting platforms for burning the dead bodies, rooms and lockers to store the urns of ashes, prayer hall, waiting area, sitting gallery, parking space, pathways, office place, wash areas, electrification, plantation, landscaping, etc.
With increasing land values in urban areas, cremation of the dead has become a costly affair and out of reach for poor people. While finding space for development of new crematoria is quite difficult, the existing places can be spruced up.
Maintenance of cremation grounds in good condition with all the required facilities free from encroachments is one of the basic obligations of the GHMC, officials said. The cremation grounds and graveyards which will be modernised in the first phase are: Balkampet (Rs 75.45 lak), Gopannapally (Rs 1.54 cr), JP Colony (Rs 65.93 lakh), Tara Nagar (Rs 95 lakh), Miyapur (for Muslims , Rs 53.50 lakh), Moosapet-Kukatpally near bus depot (Rs 91.25 lakh), Gowtham Nagar (for Muslims, Rs 25.67 lakh), Gandhinagar (Rs 50 lakh), SP Nagar (Rs 1.18 cr), Machabollaram (Rs 1.36 cr), Ramreddy Nagar (for Muslims, Rs 49.50 lakh), Punjagutta (Rs 3.08 cr), Devuni Kunta (Rs 1.46 cr), Domalguda Vinayak Nagar (Rs 95.44 lakh), Shivarampally (Rs 45.36 lakh), Amberpet, Mohini Cheruvu (Rs 1.65 cr) and Mokshavatika (Rs 96.57 lakh).