Revamped Siriti crematorium gets new furnaces, parking lot

Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday virtually inaugurated a modernised, revamped Siriti crematorium, the work for which had begun in 2022. According to plans, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation extended cremation facilities to residents of large parts of Tollygunge, Behala and the adjacent neighbourhoods. The KMC added two more electrical furnaces, taking the total number of furnaces to four. In addition, the civic body will offer a wooden pyre to citizens who prefer to cremate following traditional norms, said Tarak Singh, the member, mayor-in-council, who first devised the plan for beautification and augmentation work for the crematoria.
Mayor Firhad Hakim visited the ongoing augmentation work time and again, along with senior civic officials. Hakim finally gave a ‘go-ahead' signal to a modernisation proposal a couple of years ago.The KMC then roped in a consultancy firm to prepare a detailed project report on the modernisation of Siriti crematoria. The new Siriti crematorium is spread over 14 cottahs. "The land was recovered after shifting some families who resided on the adjacent land. The entire land will be utilised for extending the crematoria service and beautification," said a KMC source.According to a source, besides adding three furnaces, the civic body constructed a double-storeyed, air-conditioned rest room for the kin of the deceased. A car parking space was created within the crematoria complex. A park located adjacent to the present crematoria was beautified and included in the newly built crematoria complex. The park will add to the utility of the revamped crematoria, said Singh.The KMC has also dug up a pond for the kin of the deceased to perform religious rituals after the cremation. "We decided to rebuild Siriti crematorium modelled after one of the city's best-known crematoria—Keoratolla crematorium," said a KMC official.Prodded by the CM, the civic body took the initiative of rebuilding Siriti crematorium after the death of filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh in 2013.