Green cremation on rise, facilities to be scaled up

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) plans to build nine furnaces in non-conventional CNG and electric green crematoriums next year as green cremations now account for 9% of the total cremations in the Capital every year, officials said on Sunday.

- Paras Singh

According to public health department data, cremations at non-conventional sites have almost doubled in Delhi since the Covid-19 outbreak—from 3-5% of total cremations before the pandemic to 9% presently.

"There are 21 CNG/electric furnaces operational across Delhi. The number has grown manifold since the Covid-19 pandemic. We are further planning to increase capacity by adding nine furnaces in the next year," a senior MCD official said.

Of the 132,391 people who died in Delhi in 2024 so far, approximately 111,000 were cremated. Of these cremations, 9% (around 10,000) were carried out using non-conventional funeral mechanisms—CNG and electric furnace. MCD said that a traditional cremation uses 400-500kg of wood, and all such cremations in Delhi use up 45,600 tonnes of wood per year.