ERODE: In a first in the state, Rotary Club Central has introduced a mobile crematorium in Erode. This service was intended to benefit the residents. VK Rajamanikam, secretary of Aathma Trust, which functions under Erode Central Rotary Club, said, “City Corporation along with Erode Central Rotary Club is providing crematorium service on the banks of river Cauvery in Karungalpalayam for the last 14 years. However , village families have to spend about Rs 15,000 including the crematorium fee of Rs 3,500 to cremate a dead body.This fee will be increased to Rs 4,500 from this January.However, this is a huge amount for village people. So we decided to provide electric cremation service to these people and a mobile crematorium was introduced.”
“We bought the machine for this in Kerala and the ambulance vehicle, cremator, generator and all other necessary items cost Rs 25 lakh. The service is meant for villages. We will park the mobile cremation vehicle in the village and cremate the body at a cost of Rs 7,500.As of now, the process takes two hours and we are trying to reduce the time,” he said.
“A toll-free number has been introduced for the mobile crematorium. We are also planning to expand this service across the state in collaboration with the government,” he added. Sivakumar, commissioner, Erode Corporation, said, “This program is available in other states of India. However, this is the first time that a mobile crematorium is being introduced in Tamil Nadu.
