Panjagutta Burial Ground
HYDERABAD: There are about 70,000 deaths each year in GHMC limits but people can hardly find a decent burial ground where their departed relative can be laid to rest. The situation is even worse for people belonging to different religions. While Hindus and Christians have a common crematorium — Panjagutta Burial Ground, Muslims have only one place – Dargah Mir e Momin.
Despite this, the Panjagutta Burial Ground has decided to construct a modern crematorium at Panjagutta within five months. The facility, known as ‘Maha Prasthanam’, will be the second in the city after the first was built at Jubilee Hills.
The crematorium will be built on a land acquired by GHMC in a shady part of the cemetery. It will be secured with a compound wall and equipped with burning platforms, ash storage facilities, prayer hall, sitting gallery, adequate parking space, pathways, offices, wash areas and a sewerage treatment plant with a capacity of 50 kilolitres per day.
New Crematorium at Panjagutta Burial Ground
It is expected that the new crematorium will be ready by June this year. It will be eco-friendly and a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
At present, the 66-acre graveyard has nine burning platforms, washrooms and 30 lockers to keep the ashes. In addition to this, there are facilities for transporting bodies.
There are also separate buildings for performing Hindu rites on the 10th day of death. The Muslim and Christian grounds are divided into three layers with space to accommodate 550 bodies in each section.
Both the Hindu and Muslim crematoriums are outfitted with two electrical furnaces that will draw 90% of their required power from a 140 kW solar power plant installed on the premises. It will help reduce the environmental pollution caused by generating power from electricity.
A separate building has also been constructed for performing post-death rites at the crematorium. In addition to this, the crematorium is fitted with a CCTV camera and a surveillance system.
The HMDA has developed greenery around the crematorium campus as part of its sustainable development measures. The urban forestry department has also installed a sewerage treatment plant to provide sufficient water for maintaining the landscape.
There are also dedicated office rooms, cold storages, prayer halls, watchman’s rooms and toilet blocks in the crematorium complex. In addition to this, last journey vehicles and parking spaces are available.
Besides these, the new crematorium has a separate building to perform rituals on the 10th day of death as per Hindu customs. It will be a big relief to the families who are going through the process of death.
The GHMC has also taken up the construction of a steel plate girder bridge to improve the road connectivity near Chutneys, next to the graveyard. This will ensure smooth flow of traffic in the area during peak hours. This will clear a major bottleneck and will also give relief to people travelling in the Panjagutta-Banjara Hills corridor.