ERODE: The Central Rotary Club has introduced a mobile crematorium in Erode, the first of its kind in the state. This service is intended to benefit the villagers. VK Rajamanikam, Secretary of the Aathma Trust, which operates under the Erode Central Rotary Club, said: “The City Corporation has partnered with the Erode Central Rotary Club to provide a crematorium service on the banks of the Cauvery River in Karungalpalayam for the past 14 years. However, families from the villages have to spend around 15,000 rupees including the crematorium fee of 3,500 rupees for the cremation of a body. This fee will increase to Rs 4,500 from January. For the people from the villages, however, this is a huge sum. So we decided to offer an electric cremation service to these people and a mobile crematorium was introduced.”
“We bought the machine for it in Kerala and the ambulance vehicle, cremator, generator and all other necessary items cost Rs 25 lakh. The service is for villages. We will park the mobile crematorium vehicle in the village and cremate the body for Rs 7,500. As of now, the process takes two hours and we’re trying to shorten the time,” he said.
“A toll-free number has been introduced for the mobile crematorium. We also plan to expand this service statewide in cooperation with the government,” he added. Erode Corporation Commissioner Sivakumar said: “This program is available in other states of India. However, it is the first time that a mobile crematorium will be introduced in Tamil Nadu.”
