Odisha’s first gas crematorium launched in Bhubaneswar
BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday inaugurated a natural gas-based crematorium, a first of its kind in Odisha, at Dharma Vihar near Khandagiri in the state capital.
Pradhan said Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is constructing natural gas-based crematoriums in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack at a cost of Rs 16.37 crore to improve air quality, reduce pollution and carbon emissions under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative. The crematorium at Dharma Vihar has been constructed at a cost of Rs 5 crore.
The minister said Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has become a partner in the initiative. Two more crematoriums are being constructed at Aignia in the state capital and Khannagar in Cuttack. They will be made functional soon. The crematoriums will solve problems faced by residents of the twin cities in cremating bodies of their loved ones, to a great extent.
Pradhan thanked GAIL India for building the new state-of-the-art crematorium in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘ease of living’ concept to keep the environment clean and safe. He said the Prime Minister is laying emphasis on ease of living by providing liberal grants under the Smart City programme to upgrade the infrastructure of Bhubaneswar. Oil and gas infrastructure has been strengthened in eastern India including Odisha under the Prime Minister’s ‘Purvodaya’ vision.
The Prime Minister has sanctioned petroleum and petrochemical projects worth Rs 2.3 lakh crore to Odisha. Work on Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra pipelines has been completed under the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga scheme and the LNG terminal has also been completed in Dhamra.
Pradhan said GAIL has come up with a plan to deliver gas through pipelines to homes by October 2028. Around 50,000 houses in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar have already been connected with gas pipelines. He accused the state government of doing vote bank politics in the distribution of houses to the urban poor. Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi was present.