COVID-19: Delh's Sarai Kale Khan Crematorium to be extended; 150 pyres, 10 electric crematoriums added

By Joymala Bagchi
New Delhi [India], May 15 (ANI): The cremation ground at Delhi's Sarai Kale Khan is soon going to be extended by another 1,000 meters to 4,000 meters to accommodate more pyres. This is being done to ensure that there are no long queues that were witnessed a few weeks ago following the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases.
Official sources at the Sarai Kale Khan crematorium informed ANI that the Delhi Civic body had passed the proposal for the crematorium's extension and work will begin soon once the lockdown ends.
At the end of April all crematoriums in Delhi were inundated with bodies and following the increased pressure, most crematoriums had raised the number of helping hands to handle the workload.
Many families across the country had to wait as long as 20 hours for pyres to cremate their loved ones as crematoriums also faced shortage of wood.
KC Bhardwaj, a sanitary superintendent (central zone) SDMC, under whom eight crematoriums operate said, "At present, we are operating on 3,000 meters. However, the proposal of increasing another 1,000 meters has been granted. Space won't be a problem at all because a repetition of the scenario that Delhi witnessed is unthinkable."
"Extension at the eastern side has been well calculated as it will be near the Yamuna River," Bharadwaj said.
The extension will add space for another 150 wooden pyres to the existing 26. Additionally, 10 more electric crematoriums will come up.
Official sources said that there a proposal to connect it with the main road and hence there is a possibility of having fee meters of the road too.
Meanwhile, Delhi's COVID-19 situation has considerably improved over the last week, with just about 6,500 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. (ANI)