Consumption of firewood in pyres sparks debate

The improved crematorium: ideal designFor the Hindu family of a dead person the funeral pyre is a once-in-a-life time expenditure and a prerequisite for attainingmoksha. But for the world at large it means that 300 kg to 600 kg of wood is burnt. Why burn bodies on pyres stacked with layers of wood logs is the question that is now being debated by conservationists in the country.This concern at the waste of wood is understandable. At the annual death rate of 11 per thousand in India it is estimated that each year three lakh tonnes of dry wood worth over Rs 300 crore is sacrificed at the altar of moksha. This is apart from the massive amount of fuelwood used for cooking. "There is growing concern about firewood consumption at the pyre," says a senior official of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.However, over the years conservationists have not been sitting back and watching the trees being chopped and the wood being burnt amid the mantra-chanting. One ideal alternative is already in use in Gujarat.This crematorium with a simple design can be easily made and consumes just half the normal quantity of wood. In the traditional pyre the wood is stacked and the body placed on it. In the improved version the process is the same but the body is placed in a cradle-like structure. Each unit consists of two low-fired clay brick walls three feet apart and six feet long with vents along the sides. A wire mesh on which the wood and the body is to be placed is fixed a foot above the ground between the two walls. Because of the circulation of the air all around the pyre the wood burns well and just half the quantity of wood normally used, will turn the body to ashes. The cost of building each unit: Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000. "It works more or less like a big angeethi, A saved tree means much more than planting a tree," says A.G. Pinto, chief conservator of forests in Vadodara.The crematorium is now also made in cast iron, without any additional cost. "Cast iron crematorium saves a lot in terms of maintenance for the poor villagers," says a forest official. Thanks to a World Bank-aided Social Forestry Project over 1,166 such units have come up in various parts of Gujarat. And more units are being put up in adjoining wood-starved Rajasthan too."Although initial response was one of suspicion the technology has far-reaching implications," says S.S. Sayali, conservator of forests at Udaipur. Fuel wood is so scarce in some parts of Rajasthan that poverty stricken people are left with no choice but to use cow dung and other agro-wastes for cremation. By helping save 50 per cent of fuel wood, the improved crematorium is apt technology for the rural areas as it does not do away with the pyre.By helping save 50 per cent of the fuelwood, the improved crematorium is apt technology for rural areas.Predictably, it is the religious and social taboos that come in the way of the fuel-efficient crematorium becoming popular."We do not want to be miserly when it comes to the last rites of our dear ones," said a villager in Udaipur. Mourners are not exactly queuing up in front of the 85-units now installed in Rajasthan. A survey in Gujarat has revealed that an average of 13 bodies are confined to flames every year in each unit there, an indication that the stigma attached to the new way of burning is gradually going up in smoke.Lack of education is often responsible for the slow response. In north Gujarat, where education is better the brick and cast iron crematoria have worked well. In contrast, despite firewood scarcity, west Gujarat which has more illiterate and orthodox people who are rigid when it comes to religious rituals have yet to put the crematoria to use."Unless the villagers feel the need for the technology, any intervention is bound to fail," explains C.P. Krishnan, who directs the Energy Environment Group's technology dissemination programme in Una district of Himachal Pradesh. Krishnan, who is in charge of erecting 50 new crematoria in Himachal Pradesh, says: "It is indeed one technology which must reach all corners of the country."This is exactly what the World Bank is trying to do. "The extension of the programme to Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh is in the pipeline," says P.G. Thakurta of the World Bank. But officials argue that it is the cities that need the new cremation technology. For instance, Delhi alone burns up Rs 10 crore worth of firewood at the cremation grounds every year. The Advisory Board on Energy has calculated that with just Rs 70 lakh all the existing old crematoria can be changed to the new design, showing the glaring financial difference between the two alternatives.It is actually the issue of heaven and hell that prevents the burial of the concept of the fully wood-stacked pyre. Many villagers feel that burning the corpse a foot above the ground, like in the modern pyre, is a sure ticket to hell. With such issues at stake, only heaven-willing will the new design gain popularity.Published By: AtMigration Published On: May 31, 1990 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---

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Consumption of firewood in pyres sparks debate

Technology is the only solution to the debate over use of firewood at crematoriums.

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