Supporters and critics of cremation will be pleased to know that the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) in Bombay’s distant western surburbs installed a funeral mode fueled by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at its crematorium in July 2010, in an effort to reduce pollution. But with people continuing to opt for the traditional firewood pyres, only one body had been cremated there in the first month, reported the Afternoon Despatch and Courier (ADC) on August 16, 2010. "The response to the eco-friendly and cost effective LPG pyres has not been so encouraging,” MBMC chief Shivmurthi Naik admitted to ADC.
"Crematoria running on LPG are efficient and have low emissions,” explained local municipal corporator Milan Mhatre. While a wood pyre or electric crematorium would take from two to four hours to burn a body, an LPG-run facility needs only 80-120 minutes, he said. In addition, maintenance costs are lower. But the Hindu belief of burning the bodies so that the dead can find eternal rest has caused people to stay away from LPG crematoria, Mhatre feels. The Bhayandar LPG system, commissioned at a cost of Rs 45 lakh, is the first of its kind to be introduced in the western suburbs....