Urban News

Hyderabad
July 30: The GHMC has outsourced the task of cremating unclaimed dead bodies. Private agencies will do the job and charge the civic body Rs 700 for cremating each body. On an average there would be 20 unclaimed bodies per week.

An NGO, Satya Harish Chandra Foundation, and a few private agencies will cremate the bodies that are handed over by the police from the mortuaries of Gandhi, Osmania, Niloufer, Chest and other government hospitals.

The bodies will be cremated at the Nallavagu Smashana Vatika in Chandrayangutta. The private agencies will have take prior permission from the GHMC assistant medical officer of health to cremate the bodies.

Earlier, the corporation used to cremate the unclaimed bodies at its electric crematoria at Bansilalpet, Secunderabad, and Amberpet. But both facilities are under repair for six months in a year, which results in the bodies piling up. Following this, the GHMC wrote to the government to allow it to outsource the task and got the approval on July 16.

The corporation has been sitting over a Rs 3-crore project to modernise the existing electric crematoria and construct new facilities at six places in the city. The corporation has not been able to execute the project for three years.

The GHMC engineer-in-chief, Mr Panduranga Rao, said contractors were not coming forward to execute the project as it needs high technical expertise.

According to the the latest rules, the electric crematoria machinery should be as per international standards and eco-friendly.