Mumbai: Milestone and a mission for Chandanwadi crematorium

The bhoomi pujan at Marine Lines on Sunday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

When the bhoomi poojan of the reconstruction work of the electric crematorium at Chandanwadi, Marine Lines was done on Sunday morning, it meant that years of spadework, to get this project off files to brick 'n' mortar reality had fructified.

"Now, the solid work on refurbishing this part of the landmark crematorium will start within a fortnight," said Cynthia D'Mello, part of a group of 26 people under the umbrella Dignity in Death who were pushing to get this off the ground. "It took at least four years of work to see that the foundation stone is laid and reconstruction begins. We have not reached the moon, but reached a milestone from where we have to fly higher and higher," she added. Colaba's Bella Shah, who is also part of the group, said, "We are very happy. At times on the journey towards this it all seemed so tough that I wanted to quit. Yet I continued under the leadership of Renu Kapoor and here we are."

For Colaba's Renu Kapoor, helming the Dignity in Death group, it is now about, "looking at the real work that begins. I am determined to see the project finished honestly and with great transparency. We are in fact, going to be forming little groups within, so that we can monitor progress. This may be a little difficult during this outbreak but it is a plan."

Civil consultant Ashit Vora of the group who provided some professional advice and decoded technicalities said, "This is one way in which I thought I could give back something to the community."

Shashank Mehendale of Shashank Mehendale and Associates, Project Management Consultants, said, "The present crematorium prayer hall is dilapidated and needs to be demolished. Considering it is one of the very few electric crematoriums in South Mumbai, it cannot be totally shut down for refurbishment. Thus, it is being refurbished in two phases."

Architect Rohit Shinkre said the roof had been designed with multiple peaks to symbolise Kailash and added, "The total project cost along with maintenance is '12 crore and work should be completed in about two years."

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