The Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) will formally operate the electric crematorium at Pingalasthan in Kathmandu from Sunday.

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Ananda Prasad Pokharel will officially inaugurate the cremation centre at midday. A body will be incinerated at 3pm, according to Govinda Tandon, member secretary at the PADT. The question, however, remains whether the cost-effective and environment-friendly facilities will provide enough incentives for the people to stop cremating their loved ones on tradition pyres.

“All the last rites can be performed while electrically cremating a corpse. The only difference is we will be using electricity instead of fire to burn the body,” said Tandon. On an average, 300kg firewood is needed to cremate a body on a pyre which costs around Rs 7,000.

On the new facility, a body can be disposed of in 45 minutes at the cost of Rs3,000.

A dozen mortal remains are cremated at Aryaghat on a daily average.

Even though the PADT runs the electric facility, traditional cremation service will also be available at the ghat. In September last year, the Trust successfully conducted a trial operation where two unclaimed bodies of earthquake victims recovered from Bhaktapur and Dhading were burnt at the apparatus in Pingalasthan.

The facility has two incinerators worth Rs26 million which were built by Indomen Engineering Service, Kolkata. The plant will receive uninterrupted power supply while the PADT has also installed a power backup.

The crematorium building has a cooling store for at least 20 bodies and separate rooms with hot shower for the mourners.