Bhubaneswar: A commercial gas shortage reportedly due to the ongoing West Asia turmoil, forced the city’s biggest gas-based crematorium at Satya Nagar to shut operations for a week.Mayor Sulochana Das said for the past few days commercial cylinder was not supplied to the crematorium, leading to wood-based burning of bodies. “The crematorium did not receive commercial cylinders for the past 7 days, leading to the shutdown of the gas-powered burning chamber at the facility that handles a major share of the city’s cremation demand. Around 5 to 6 bodies come for cremation in the Satya Nagar facility,” said the mayor.The disruption affected families relying on the gas-based system at the renovated Satya Nagar crematorium, one of the busiest funeral facilities in the city, sources said.The supply issue came to light after complaints poured in regarding the non-availability of LPG cylinder. Last year, BMC introduced a user fee of Rs 2,000 for cremation of 1 body in the gas-powered chamber at the crematorium. Besides Satya Nagar, there are 2 more gas-based crematoriums at Dharma Vihar and Aiginia, but the footfall is very thin there, officials said.The city also has the Bharatpur crematorium which is only wood based. Officials said the gas chambers were introduced while retaining traditional wood-fired chulhas, allowing families to choose according to belief and convenience.The Satya Nagar crematorium, which underwent major renovation at a cost of Rs 3.2 crore, now has 6 open wood-based chulhas and 6 closed ones, in addition to the gas facility. BMC officials said the crematoriums also provide changing rooms, sitting areas, rest sheds, and wood storage space, with land reserved for future expansion and modernisation.A BMC officer said the civic body earlier found electric cremation chambers to be expensive and unreliable. The electric system often developed technical faults and required monthly power expenditure of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. The chamber also had to remain switched on continuously because it took nearly 3 hours to reach the temperature required for cremation. Officials said gas-based systems are not so cumbersome.
