Now a green initiative for after-life (The Hindu 18 February 2011)

If you're environmentally conscious in life, how about the after-life? Eight Indian cities will now get cremation systems in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's Harit Moksha (Green Heaven) initiative.
With two lakh hectares of forest area being felled annually just for burning bodies in the rites of death, the Harit Moksha systems, which promise to use 60 per cent less wood, could be significant. So far ONGC plans to set up 30 units in eight cities — including ten in Mumbai and six in Delhi — at a cost of Rs.9.19 crore in collaboration with an NGO, Mokshda Paryavaran Evam Van Suraksha Samiti.
“These units need to be installed on a large enough scale to make a difference,” said Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh inaugurating the venture on Thursday.
He admitted that he had initially supported the use of electric crematoria, an idea which had not found many takers.
A fuel-efficient wood-based crematorium, on the other hand, is more culturally acceptable, and has the added bonus of being more affordable for poorer families.
Mr. Ramesh welcomed ONGC's corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts and suggested that the public service undertaking spend its surplus CSR budget of Rs. 200 crore by partnering with his Ministry's afforestation efforts. “If I can get five PSUs like yours, I have my entire Rs.1,000 crore budget,” he said.
The Samiti, which will implement the project on a turnkey basis over the next three years, estimates that it would help in saving 13,700 tonnes of wood and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26,500 tonnes every year. Air and river pollution would also be reduced.
Mr. Ramesh was not averse to eliciting some wry political laughs from his audience. As he prepared to leave for the meeting of the Group of Ministers on Coal to discuss the controversial issue of coal mining in heavily forested areas, he quipped that “many people at the meeting would be hoping that I would be the first candidate for this Harit Moksha, and hoping to get rid of the Harit Mantralaya.”