It was during a cremation five years ago that Vijay Limaye wondered how many trees must have been 'killed' to ensure 'moksh' (salvation) for the departed soul.
It was then that the concept of 'green cremation' struck him and thus began a venture which has won praise from various quarters, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking at an event in Delhi on August 22, Modi lauded the Nagpur-based entrepreneur for his initiative and efforts to protect the environment.
The Nagpur Municipal Corporation, in association with Limaye's NGO Eco Friendly Living Foundation, is planning to offer eco-friendly cremations at four crematoriums, the entrepreneur said.
"Cremation using agro-waste briquettes along with LPG crematoria will be introduced at these four places," he said.
"The work on 'green cremation' started by collecting data from various crematoriums. Our findings revealed that around 300 to 350 kg of wood was used per person," the 49-year-old Limaye told PTI.
"This much wood is generated from two 15-year-old trees. This means that every person cremated in this manner needs two trees to attain 'moksha'. Every year almost 80 lakh people are cremated using wood. This means that 100 square km of forest is wiped out," he said.
The wood used is of native trees like mango, amrut, tamarind, babul, etc, that grow slowly compared to imported trees like gulmohor, rain tree, subabul, amaltash, etc, he said.
"Taking into account the sentiments and traditions where rituals like funeral pyre are needed, I began working on an alternative to wood," Limaye said.
"Initially, dung cakes were promoted, and people readily accepted them in place of wood. After the number of people choosing the dung cake method increased, we were faced with shortage of dung cakes," he said.
"While searching for an alternative to dung cakes, I thought of agro waste. After trials, my team succeeded in finding the right mixture of agro waste with which to cremate the dead," Limaye said.
"In the last quarter of 2015, we used hard bricks made from agro waste at several cremations. These bricks were appropriately named 'Mokshkastha'," he said.
"Farmers who earlier burnt agro waste are now earning something from it. Also, the earthworms which got killed due to burning of farm waste (in fields) now live longer.
"The agro waste is first crushed using crushers, and transported to briquette-manufacturing units at taluka places. Mokshkastha is cheaper than wood. While wood contains 15 per cent moisture, Mokshkastha has only 3 per cent moisture (so it burns more efficiently)," Limaye added.
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