With Coimbatore reporting more COVID-19 deaths, electric crematoria are working extra time and those that have two furnaces dedicate one of these completely to cremating the bodies of people who died of the infection.
Some of the crematoria have been operating to full capacity in Coimbatore in the recent days.
One of the crematoria in the city has dedicated one of its two furnaces for COVID-19 bodies. “We get five COVID-19 bodies a day. There are eight to nine bodies for the other one. This is higher that the number of bodies cremated a day using both the furnaces,” says the person in-charge of the crematorium.
“I guess some of the crematoria are running for longer hours. There have been requests for maintenance tools for the furnaces from two of them,” said a person who co-ordinates maintenance of two crematoria in the city.
G. Krithika, an MSME owner here, had tweeted today seeking more efforts from the government to ensure safety of people living in the vicinity of the electric crematoria. She said some crematoria were operating at night hours too and the government should take measures to allay the fears of those living nearby.
Sources in the electric crematorium at Pappanaickenpalayam said that out of the two furnaces in the crematorium, one had been allotted to cremate those who died of COVID-19.
While the crematorium used to see the arrival of around four to five bodies every day till April, the number of cremations per day has increased to seven or eight during the past month, the sources said. On Tuesday, the electric crematorium saw the cremation of four persons in the COVID-19 furnace and four in the non-COVID-19 furnace, according to the sources.
Similarly, the electric crematorium at Chokkampudur has been seeing around seven cremations every day. Sources said that only one furnace was available in the crematorium, which was being used to cremate COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 bodies
