Sites identified for two pet crematoriums in Delhi

New Delhi
Civic agencies have finalised two sites and are in the process of identifying a third to set up pet crematoria in the Capital, after operationalising one such facility in Dwarka earlier this year, a senior official with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said.
Of the two finalised sites, one is near the Mandoli prison complex and the other is near Sanjay Lake in Mayur Vihar Phase-1.
“Dwarka facility on public-private partnership has been successful in its initial phase and 150-200 dogs are being cremated here every month. Since the site is located on the outskirts of southwest Delhi in Sector 29 Dwarka, we are planning to add more such sites in different parts of the city. Process has been initiated for Mandoli and a second site in Mayur Vihar Phase-1,” the official, requested anonymity, said.
The facilities will be set up in public-private partnership, the official said.
At present, there are around half a dozen private operators providing cremation facilities for pets. The cost of a pyre cremation for a pet weighing 25kg is ₹6,000- ₹7,000 and for electric cremation is ₹9,000- ₹10,000. For animals that weigh less than 15kg, the cost is around ₹5,000. For unclaimed dead animals and carcasses, the civic body also runs an animal rendering plant near the Ghazipur slaughterhouse.
The charges for the new facility will be fixed by the house of councillors while granting the final approval. It also depends on the prevailing fuel and operational costs. The CNG prices have seen rapid rise since the last MoU was signed.
A second official said the public health department will hand over the plot near Sanjay Lake to the veterinary department, after which the next step in the process to develop these two facilities will be taken up. “We are also looking for a site in south Delhi, but land availability is the main problem. A 1,000 square metre (sqm) site is available near Tehkhand but the department has faced stiff resistance from residents in developing dog-related facility here,” a second official added.
‘Dwarka model successful’
On January 9, the first municipal pet crematorium in Dwarka was formally inaugurated on a 700sqm site at the four-acre MCD dog complex in Sector 29, Dwarka, where a sterilisation centre is already operational. The project was conceptualised in 2018 by the erstwhile south corporation and was executed on a public–private partnership mode, with the entire cost of construction, upkeep and maintenance of the crematorium taken up by the NGO, Green Revolution Foundation.
Sahib Sawhney, head of the NGO implementing the project, said that the Dwarka facility is operating well and the model is successful. “We are lifting the bodies of strays and cremating them free of cost. Eighty to ninety strays are cremated every month, alongside a similar number of private cremations. Pet parents are also opting for our others services, such as planting a tree in the memory of their pet. Despite being remotely located, response is gradually increasing. A more centrally located cremation facility will be even more popular.”
The crematorium has two CNG furnaces with a 200kg and a 150kg biomass capacity each. The two furnaces can cater to 10 private pets and 15 small stray animals in a day, with each cremation cycle lasting 30 minutes to one hour.
The charge for cremating carcasses weighing above 30kg is ₹3,000 and for lighter ones, is ₹2,000.
“Cremations of dead stray dogs are carried out free of cost and private cremations are charged. The facility received (carcasses of) 78 pet dogs and 80 stray dogs in July. The numbers are likely to rise in coming months as it gets more popular,” the second official said.