Cuttack: The civic body is set to resume cremation of bodies using LPG furnace at its Khannagar facility.

The Khannagar crematorium was the first to have such a unit in January 2017, it functioned for less than a month before going defunct.

Sources said the LPG plant became non-functional because of chimney disorder. This warranted setting up of a new chimney.

Municipal commissioner Bikash Ranjan Mohapatra told The Telegraph on Sunday that the new chimney was in place and trial run of the plant had been completed.

"We hope to resume the LPG facility for cremation of bodies within a week," Mohapatra said.

Sources said the earlier chimney was not high enough and filled the area with smoke. The new chimney is 30ft high following prescribed rules.

The LPG plant will charge Rs 250 for cremation of adults and Rs 50 for children below 12. People below the poverty line will be allowed to use the facility free of cost.

Social activist Pravat Ranjan Dash said: "Using an LPG furnace is a shift to an eco-friendly way of disposing of bodies and a veritable alternative when there is shortage of wood. But it remains to be seen whether the civic body is successful in running the facility without glitch this time."

In addition to a place for cremation by woods, the Khannagar crematorium earlier had the electric furnace facility. The civic body had decided to shut it down and replace it with the LPG-run machine because the operation cost of that was high.

Chairman of the corporation's standing committee for sanitation Ranjan Kumar Biswal said: "Cremation by LPG is not only cost effective but also time-saving."