Electric crematoriums are no longer the only green option for environmentally sensitive Hindus. Harit Moksha, a joint initiative of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and a non-government organisation, Mokshda Paryavaran Evam Van Suraksha Samiti (PEVSS), promises to reduce the use of wood by as much as 60 percent.

Though the NGO has been operating one such green crematorium at Dehradun since 2008, union environment minister announced its partnership with ONGC in New Delhi on Thursday.

A total of 30 units of Mokshda Green Cremation System (MGCS) will be set up across eight centres at a cost of Rs 9.19 crore within three years. Funds for the project are being provided by ONGC. Ten units will come up in Mumbai, six in Delhi, four in Vadodara, three in Ahmedabad, two each in Dehradun, Khambat and Jodhpur, and one in Bokaro.

As per the projections, the initiative will help save 13,700 tonnes of wood, besides reducing 26,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually. Five to six crore trees are felled and used for conventional wood-based cremation every year across India. “We lose 2 lakh hectares just for felling trees for burning dead bodies. With the help of efficient wood-based crematoria, which will be culturally more acceptable to our people, we will be able to save more trees,” the minister said.