After a five year delay, Kilkattalai may finally get a gasifier crematorium by the end of February. The project, which began in 2007, was supposed to have been completed in one-and-a-half years at a cost of Rs. 50 lakh.
In 2011, officials requested further funding from the government and received Rs. 7.5 lakh. Today, the cost of the project stands at Rs. 75 lakh.
The facility, when set up, will benefit over one lakh people who reside in Kilkattalai and Pallavaram areas, said D.S. Sivasamy, a resident of Pallavaram and a president of Confederation of Organisations of Integrated Urban Development.
“It is a better and scientific way of disposing bodies and moreover, the process is not time-consuming,” he said. The crematorium will also be useful to residents of nearby areas including Madipakkam and Medavakkam, he added.
Officials of the Pallavaram municipality blamed the previous government for the delay.
“We have already tested the machine. Hopefully, it will prove to be useful to Kilkattalai and its neighbouring areas as well,” said an official.
The Pallavaram area will get two more gasifier crematoriums in Malaganathapuram and Asthinapuram, said an official.
This facility will benefit neighbouring areas including Grand South Trunk Road, Lakshmipuram, Pammal and Anakaputhur.
“The two are estimated to cost around Rs. 90 lakh each and will be completed in a year-and-a-half,” the official added.
