MANGALORE: The Hindu Rudrabhoomi Project (crematorium) of Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP), is not only completing the last journey of humans in a dignified manner, but also is proving to be environment friendly.
A traditional Hindu funeral pyre takes six hours to burn the body completely and uses 500-600 kg of wood. SKDRDP’s silicon cremation chambers cuts down the use of wood and also burning time.
Jayaram Nellithaya, director of the community development programme of SKDRDP said, “Wood required in a silicon chamber is as less than 250 kg and the body gets burnt in less than three hours. This makes it environment friendly.”
He said that the initiative has the support of Dharmasthala dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade. “This has been taken up under the community development project to create and develop rural assets. It was launched to assist community efforts for infrastructure building. Today, the project emphasizes education, rural infrastructure and the improvement of crematoriums.
Nellithaya added that the project aims at educating people the need for crematoriums in all gram panchayats, removing the fear associated with the ritual and instill a sense of devotion, supporting the local community in creating allied infrastructure like sheds, chambers, power, utilities, connectivity and compound. “Together with the help of local initiatives and sponsors, upgrading, repair and construction works have been carried out in multiple villages, towns and cities. A total of 368 crematoriums have received SKDRDP and local financial assistance of Rs 4 crore,” he added.
Of the districts in which the renovation has been carried out Dakshina Kannada has benefitted the most with 98 crematoriums upgraded. In Udupi, 66 have seen renovation and in Chikmagalur the number is 25.
The number of renovated crematoriums in other districts is as follows: Uttara Kannada (18), Belgaum (16), Tumkur (12), Bagalkot (12), Gadag (11), Dharwad (10), Hassan (10), Haveri (8), Shimoga (8), Kasaragod (8), Chitradurga (7), Raichur (6), Kodagu (6), Bijapur (6), Davangere (5), Mandya (4), Mysore (4), Koppal (4), Bangalore Rural (3), Chikkaballapur (3), Bangalore Urban (2), Gulbarga (2), Ramnagar (1) and three in Andhra Pradesh.