LPG-fired facility in Tirupati also has halls for last rites, memorial meetings It is a modest attempt to infuse modernity into 'death management', even while retaining traditional and customary practices in vogue for ages. 'Govinda Dhamam', the state-of-the-art crematorium developed on a one-acre site at Thimminaidupalem on the city outskirts is almost a case study on managing death, funeral ceremony and memorial services. The project was initiated by the Mahaprasthana Seva Samithi comprising the Rotary Club of Tirupati, Arya Vysya Officials and Professionals’ Association (AVOPA), Veerabahu Satya Harischandra Hindu Rudrabhoomi Society and supported by the Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT), with the aim to bid a decent adieu to the deceased, while protecting the environment. This is said to be the first LPG-fired crematorium in Andhra Pradesh, where mechanisation, automation and digitisation have touched a new high. The gas chamber has six burners on its three sides that run for an hour at 800-1200 degrees temperature to reduce the mortal remains into ashes weighing 3-4 kg, consuming a full cylinder weighing 14.2 kg of LPG. “The soot and ash is diverted into a water tank, while the billowing smoke is pushed up via a 100 ft-tall chimney, causing no harm to environment,” MSS president T. Damodaram told The Hindu. The ash (for performing funeral rites) is collected from the chamber behind. The entire process is mechanised, right from pushing the body into the gas chamber and firing the system to disposal of the remains.