The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has built a funeral complex called Mukti Ghat, equipped with facilities to serve Hindus, Christians and Muslims. Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao will inaugurate the complex at Fathullaguda in Uppal on Tuesday, December 6. The funeral complex has been developed in an area of six-and-a-half acres, with dedicated areas for Hindus (two-and-a-half acres), Muslims (two acres) and Christians (two acres). The complex has been constructed at a cost of Rs 16.25 crore.
The funeral complex was developed over land that was earlier a Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) dumpyard for depositing construction and demolition waste, where site clearance and levelling were taken up. HMDA has called the complex a “model crematorium” for Hindus, Muslims and Christians in one place, “to promote communal harmony.”
According to HMDA, the Hindu crematorium is “eco-friendly,” with two electrical furnaces to reduce environmental pollution. A solar power plant of 140 kilowatts has been installed to generate solar power to meet 90% of the power requirement of the furnaces and other utilities. The Hindu part of the complex also has a separate building for performing rituals on the tenth day from passing.
Muslim and Christian burial grounds have been developed with three layers, and each of them can accommodate about 550 bodies. Each of the three parts of the complex has a dedicated office room, cold storage, a prayer hall, a toilet block, “last journey vehicles” or hearses, and a parking space. A sewerage treatment plant with a capacity of 50 KLD (kilo litres per day) has also been installed to treat and reuse the sewage to maintain the landscapes, and the greenery has been developed by the Urban Forestry wing of HMDA.