BENGALURU:“We have been waiting for more than four hours now,” said Dhana Laxmi wiping beads of sweat from her tired face at the Chamrajpeth crematorium in South Bengaluru, where she came to perform the last rites of one of her relatives.
The grim power situation in the state and the load shedding being carried out in the city is now haunting the deceased, as long queues awaits members accompanying a funeral processions at the electric crematoriums in the city.
The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) announced a new load shedding schedule recently, where it mentioned that to cope up with the power outage in the state, four hours load shedding will be carried out in residential areas, but the situation is worst in reality.
Nagraj, the manager at Harish Chandra Ghat in Srirampuram in Central Bengaluru, said, “The people who are visiting the crematorium for performing the last rites are losing their cool over the long queues. But we are helpless as power outages are interrupting the electric incinerators.”
As he rummaged through documents in his dingy room emanating the aroma of myriad incense sticks stuck on cow dung and placed over dead bodies, restless relatives who came for performing the funeral rites shouted on top of their voice to inquire about their turn.
As the decibel soared to a tumultuous cacophony, Mahesha, who operates the oven of the electric crematorium, would rush in, open the lid of the oven and to the dismay of the people waiting in the queue shout back that the last body has not yet mingled with the five elements completely.
Same situation prevails at Shanti Dhama crematorium in Banashankari, Chamrajpeth Crematorium on old Guddadahalli road and the crematorium located near Beggar Colony on Magadi Road. On an average all these crematoriums receive around 10 to 12 bodies on daily basis and one body takes approximately one hour to get incinerated.
“We have diesel generator sets, but operating the oven on back up power for long results in the heating of the generators and hence we have to leave them for some time to cool down. At the current rate of load sheddings, operating the electric ovens have become an uphill task,” said Nagraj.
Due to load shedding the electric crematorium are not working properly, delaying the task of cremation of a body, and to top this water supply in the crematorium has also taken a jolt as water cannot pumped the tanks in the absence of power.
Bashwarajappa carried water all the way from his home, which is around five kilometer away from the Chamrajpeth crematorium. “To perform the last rites one needs to take bath more than once. So now we have to carry water on one shoulder and the dead on the other so that we can bid farewell to the departed soul properly. Power cuts have taken a toll on the funeral rites,” said Bashwarajappa.