To heaven, with dignity

A new pet crematorium will give the city’s dead pets a dignified end.

Pet owners in the city can now cremate their dead pets with dignity with the opening of PAWS — a pet burial and crematorium.

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“Two years back my dog died. I was standing in the middle of the night with my dog’s body in my arms, not knowing what to do with it because there is just no decent facility to perform the last rites for pets.

It was then that I met vet Dr RT Sharma, with whom I decided to set up PAWS in Chhatarpur,” says businessman Sunil Kalra. “It’s really unfortunate that people have to bury their pets that they have loved like their own children in some vacant plot.”

A nominal fee of Rs 2,500 rupees will be charged for the cremation and the money from it will go to a fund to establish an animal hospital, complete with all the modern facilities needed.

“This crematorium will be a diesel powered crematorium that will be 100 per cent eco-friendly and non polluting,” says Kalra. To make the final rites of the pet more sombre, family members of the pet can offer prayers in a big hall that will also have soothing bhajans playing in the background.

People can also write memoriums about their pets on a memory wall provided at the crematorium. A facility to plant trees in the memory of the pets is also on the anvil. “And yes, owners will have the option of collecting the ashes of their pets,” adds Kalra.

“My dog died two years back. I thought of taking him to Jeevashram for burial in Rajokri but that is really far away. So, I had to bury him in this vacant plot far away from my house.

Hopefully, with this [PAWS] people like us will not face the dilemma of finding a decent place for last rite,” says Manisha Kapoor, a resident of Preet Vihar. “I don’t mind paying for this facility at all.

My dog Rambo’s grave was dug out by stray dogs in the area just because there was no decent facility for his burial and I had to bury him near this construction site near my house,” says Meeta Khurana a resident of Noida.

Where: Khasra no. 628, 639 and 641, Revenue Estate, Village Gadiapur, Mehrauli. Adjacent to the existing MCD human crematorium.