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Online booking of crematorium slots, death certificates in works in Delhi
The officials said that the corporation intends to redevelop the Sarai Kale Khan and Rohini crematoriums to reduce the load on Nigam Bodh Ghat
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is planning to initiate online slot booking facilities and digitise transactions to facilitate the issuance of death certificates across the 68 funeral centres operated by the civic body in Delhi in a bid to ease the process at these centres, according to announcements made during the budget proposals on December 9.
The officials also said that the health department of the corporation intends to redevelop the Sarai Kale Khan and Sector 26, Rohini, crematoriums to reduce the load on the central Nigam Bodh Ghat cremation ground. The proposal to revamp funeral centres was moved by municipal commissioner Gyanesh Bharti.
According to the annual birth and death registration report of the Delhi government issued last week, the city recorded 128,106 deaths with an average of 351 deaths every day.
A senior municipal official, who asked not to be named, said that around 80% of the overall funerals in the Capital are carried out at cremation grounds while the rest happen at burial facilities. The public health department currently oversees 50 wood-based crematoriums, six burial grounds, three cemeteries, eight CNG and one electric crematorium.
A second senior MCD official, from the public health department, said the three civic bodies — north, south and east— were operating live online counters to show the real-time availability of pyres during the pandemic and the department is now working on converting the portal to an online booking unit.
“We often get complaints about overcharging and other hassles faced by the families. Through this portal, loved ones of the deceased would be able to book the time and place slots online, and purchase wood. A QR code will also be generated. The management of the funeral centres can scan the code and complete the remaining formalities. This will reduce human interface,” the second official added.
Bharti in his budget proposals also mentioned that all the crematoriums would be digitised and linked with the birth-death registration portal to ease the process.
Read Here: MCD to upgrade its 3 crematoriums; Rohini to get ‘garden-themed’ facility
The first official cited above said that currently, manual slips are issued by the funeral centres which are used for the registration of deaths online. “People often misplace these slips. The digital slips and computerisation will directly transmit the information to the central server,” the official said.
CNG conversion and upgradation
The conversion of crematoriums into CNG-fuelled units received an accelerated push during the pandemic and they increased from three to eight.
The civic body plans to equip three more locations with CNG furnaces over the next six months by adding Hastsal, Panchkuian Road, and Seemapuri crematoriums to this list.
The second MCD official said that the equipment and furnaces for the Hastsal and Panchkuian Road have already been procured. “We plan to operate the Hastsal facility by December 2023. One furnace at Panchkuian Road will be ready in 90 days but the two furnaces of Seemapuri will be integrated with the structure and therefore will be ready only by June 2024,” the official added.
Read Here: First pet crematorium run by MCD begins operations
The civic body has also upgraded the only electric crematorium at Sarai Kale Khan which caters to a large number of unclaimed dead bodies.
The official added that currently, the Nigam Bodh Ghat facility faces a disproportionate load due to family beliefs/traditions as well as better facilities at the largest crematorium in the city.
“Our idea is that there should be large crematoriums in three different regions of the city so that bodies can be processed in their respective regions,” the official added.
The civic body has hired a consultant to develop the Rohini Sector 26 ground as an integrated facility with Hindu, Muslim and Christian sections. In the case of burial grounds, the corporation will develop a plot of 2,000 sqm near Buland Masjid in east Delhi as an extension of the existing facility.
According to the registration numbers, 104,764 deaths in Delhi were registered under the Hindu faith, 16,467 were Muslims, 3,690 Sikhs, 781 Christians, and the rest did not specify any religion.
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