No place to grieve: India's pet crematorium crisis, city by city

As pet ownership booms across urban India, most cities still have no dignified way to say a final goodbye — and the few facilities that exist are frequently overwhelmed, underfunded, or broken downFor hundreds of thousands of pet owners across India, the death of a dog or cat brings a second, quieter crisis on top of the grief: Where does the body go. In most Indian cities, the honest answer is still nowhere official.Owners bury pets in vacant plots, backyards and farmhouses, hand carcasses to sanitation workers, or pay private operators sums that dwarf what a human funeral costs — and increasingly, animal lovers and civic bodies are being forced to reckon with just how badly the infrastructure has lagged behind the country's exploding pet population.Kochi: A demand that keeps resurfacingIn Kochi, the absence of a dedicated crematorium has pushed pet owners toward burial on vacant land, reliance on sanitation workers, or private operators charging steep fees. The long-pending demand resurfaced recently at a meeting of animal lovers and veterinary officials, which also flagged the city's growing population of abandoned pets and stray dogs. "The city has a large population of pets, particularly in apartments, but no proper facility to cremate them. Many owners have no option but to bury their pet's bodies in vacant plots or resort to other improper means of disposal. Others are forced to search for private operators willing to help," said social activist Ranjith Thampy. "Apart from causing emotional distress to pet owners, it also poses environmental concerns."A professional pet care firm has proposed a one-acre shelter to the Kochi corporation, capable of housing over 2,000 abandoned and injured animals, complete with veterinary care, sterilisation and adoption drives — and a dedicated crematorium. "We have submitted the proposal with the aim of addressing the city's longstanding challenges in a humane and professional manner. The corporation only needs to identify suitable land and provide basic infrastructure. The project can then be supported through CSR funding," said Amalnath, founder of a pet boarding facility in Ernakulam.An earlier civic plan for a stray dog shelter was delayed after the site was found to overlap with land earmarked for a black soldier fly unit. Mayor V K Minimol said the council has since approved an alternative 4.5-acre site: "We are planning multiple facilities there, including a veterinary hospital and an animal crematorium." Mumbai: A rare success story, still stretched thinMumbai offers one of the country's better-functioning models. BMC's eco-friendly cremation centre at Evershine Nagar in Malad has cremated hundreds of animals — largely strays — with booking now available online and the service free of cost, daily from 10am to 6pm.In its first six months it handled 757 cremations; a subsequent month alone saw 171, spanning stray dogs, cats, pet animals, a rabbit, a tortoise and a bird."Except for the first month, all other months have witnessed over 100 cremations taking place. The maximum was in October — 160 cremations," a BMC official said, adding that the process takes about an hour once a carcass arrives.Pawan Sharma, founder of the Resqink Association For Wildlife Welfare, said awareness is still lacking: "BMC must collaborate with veterinarians or pet shop owners to raise awareness of importance of a licence on acquiring a pet. We've heard of cases where pet owners have to pay retrospective charges when applying for a licence years after obtaining their pet."Yet even in Mumbai, the older, established facility at Bai Sakarbai Animal Hospital in Parel tells a harder story. Assistant secretary Suresh Kadam said the facility, which uses piped natural gas, charges a nominal amount depending on size, with proposals pending for three more units in Malad, Mahalakshmi and Deonar. But most pet owners never make the trip. Vaibhav Chavan, caretaker of Oshiwara cemetery, said grieving owners often beg to bury or cremate pets there instead: "Some crematoria allow them to do so quietly in the dead of night, lest people object."Where cremation does happen through cemetery operators, the cost can run to Rs 10,000-15,000 for what one manager called a "ceremonial farewell" — more than many human funerals. "Well, most people grow to love their animals like family. If you spend Rs 2,000 per month caring for a dog, why do you grudge Rs 10,000 for its funeral," the manager said.Aman Walia, who runs the Aman Animal Rehabilitation Foundation in Naigaon, Thane, described the toll of having no nearby option: "We often face this situation when a pet dies. Much as we want to cremate or bury the carcass, we cannot. Firstly, the only resting place for animals is at Parel which is very far away, and also it costs a lot. So we have no choice but to dispose of the carcass on the street or, if possible, bury it in one corner where we may find space. Either way, it is very painful."Hyderabad: Cremation comes to the doorstepGHMC, in partnership with People for Animals (PFA), is offering a door-to-door pet cremation service. A designated vehicle collects the deceased pet for cremation, and the ashes are returned to the owner. The service costs upwards of Rs 2,500, depending on the distance. Crematoria are located at Gopanpally and Gajularamaram, in addition to the existing facility at Fathullaguda, which was set up in 2022."Through this initiative, GHMC and PFA want to provide support and comfort to those who mourn the passing of their beloved animal companions and give them a dignified send-off. The current facility in Fathullaguda has been well received by the community, with around 30 pets being cremated monthly," a senior GHMC official said, adding that three more crematoria are planned for Secunderabad, Charminar and Khairatabad zones."With the help of local authorities, we are now able to offer electric pet cremation services. Our team will be available throughout the year," said Vasanthi Vadi, founder president of PFA Hyderabad. Thane: An NGO fills the gap with a burial groundThane's wait for a pet crematorium ended in November, when state transport minister Pratap Sarnaik inaugurated the city's first gas-based pet crematorium at Majivada, an eco-friendly facility built at a cost of Rs 50 lakh adjacent to the existing human crematorium, with a separate entrance. The facility uses APC technology with a 30-foot chimney designed to cut 70% of emissions, can process up to 50kg of animal remains an hour, and runs a roughly 90-minute cremation cycle at about 800°C."Thane has a large number of pet lovers who treat their pets as family. After their death, people had no proper place for cremation and had to travel far," Sarnaik said, adding that he had proposed the idea during Eknath Shinde's tenure as chief minister and secured funds for the project. "Better late than never. The govt accepted my suggestion, and this new policy has now been introduced," he said.The Majivada site is the first of six planned across Thane and neighbouring Mira-Bhayandar — three in each city, at a cost of roughly Rs 26 lakh apiece — under a 2023-approved scheme to retrofit existing human crematoriums with pet cremation facilities. Two more Thane units, along Ghodbunder Road, are still in the pipeline.Until this facility opened, the district's only dedicated space had been a burial ground built by an NGO in Murbad. "It is the only burial ground for pets in Thane district... That time it struck me that there should be a burial place for animals as well," said Nilesh Bhanage, founder of PAWS, who built the site in 2015.Veterinarian Dr Karishma Gupte had earlier flagged the cost of that gap: "Due to lack of facilities many throw their pets in Thane creek or bury them in waste lands in Kopri, some even throw them in dustbins. Government should make sure that they at least have an electric crematorium for pets." With Majivada now running, that specific complaint has been addressed — though the rest of the six-site rollout remains a work in progress.Bhopal: No earmarked ground, and unkind words for grieving ownersBhopal does have one piece of animal-disposal infrastructure: An animal carcass incinerator BMC set up in April 2023 at Adampur Chawni, at a cost of Rs 4 crore, funded through air-quality-improvement funds. "We used to dig pits and bury dead animals. We could not dispose of them properly. We have set up an animal incinerator plant in the Adampur Chawni area to dispose of animal carcasses safely," then-BMC commissioner KVS Chouhan said at the time, describing a plant rated to burn 500kg of carcasses an hour, running 8-10 hours a stretch on LPG with a planned shift to CNG.Even so, Bhopal has no burial ground or cemetery for pets specifically. "There is no burial ground or cemetery in Bhopal for burial of pets. Mostly people let their friends bury their deceased pets on their farmhouses or other property," said animal activist Mubashir Hasan, who plans to raise the issue with the municipal corporation. A civic worker described the current practice bluntly: "When we get calls from some owners about disposing their pets we collect them and bury them in the jungles of Kerwa or Kaliyasot. Iske aage hum kuch nahi kar sakte" — beyond this, we can't do anything.Dr Vishakha Ahirwar, an animal surgeon at State Animal Hospital, said a pet morgue is being planned but is still far off: "We are trying to build a pet morgue in the hospital premise to facilitate the pet owners. But it is going to take some time as we are still developing the infrastructure." She also spoke to the dismissiveness some owners face: "It is a very difficult time as not everyone can relate to the loss, and some people show absolute disregard to them by saying, 'kutta hi toh tha, itna kya rona?'" — it was only a dog, why cry so much. "However, one should keep their wits about them and not fall for such lines."Pet owners described the depth of that attachment. "I speak on behalf of all the pet parents when I say that our lives revolve around these furballs... I probably love him more than my child," said Monica Sahai, a fitness expert and owner of a pug. Nisarg Tale, who rears two German Shepherds, said: "It is hard to think of the inevitable day without getting a lump in the throat." Banker Arpita Pandey, who recently lost a pet, said most Bhopal households are left to fend for themselves: "In Bhopal, most of the houses have an attached gardens so some owners bury their pets there itself, as it also serves as a memorial."Ahmedabad: Gujarat's first CNG pet crematorium finds its footingThe Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has opened a dedicated CNG-fired crematorium for pet dogs at Behrampura, designed with primary and secondary chambers for odourless cremation and a chamber large enough for three dogs at once. The fee is fixed at Rs 700. Owners who prefer not to attend in person can watch via a live CCTV feed; those who do attend get air-conditioned seating.The facility was born partly out of cases like that of Chitrang Contractor, an IT consultant who lost his 14-year-old indie, Rio, and was determined not to bury him in an unmarked spot for fear strays would dig up the remains. "Rio was part of the family, a child," Contractor said. "We were satisfied with the way his final journey went at the civic crematorium. We were able to take him there ourselves and say our final goodbye."The facility has since cremated 108 dogs, drawing owners from as far as Gandhinagar, Rajkot and Udaipur; 32 families have made financial contributions totalling Rs 1.06 lakh in their pets' memory. AMC has floated tenders for two additional crematoria — one each in the city's east and west — at a combined cost of Rs 60 lakh.Lucknow: 3-year wait for two furnacesLucknow Municipal Corporation is setting up twin electric crematoriums at its Shivri plant on Sitapur Road — one for strays, one for pet dogs — at an estimated cost of Rs 3.9 crore (later revised in reports to Rs 2.5 crore), with each furnace capable of cremating up to 100 animals daily."With this initiative, stray animals will receive dignified cremations through the LMC incinerator," said additional municipal commissioner Arvind Rao, noting that until now LMC has had to bury 90-100 dogs daily at the Shivri plant. The project, approved at an executive committee meeting in August 2023, was delayed nearly three years by land allotment and contract issues before a work order was finally issued."Many pet owners in posh areas with a high pet population, have had no options for cremating their pets or strays. This new LMC incinerator will provide a farewell for both stray dogs and pets, addressing a long-standing need in our community," said Dr Anoop Kumar, a veterinarian and pet owner from Aliganj.Chennai: BCI opens the city's first dedicated facilityBlue Cross of India, in partnership with the Chennai Willingdon Corporate Foundation, has set up the city's first dedicated pet crematorium at BCI's Velachery campus — a gas-fired unit cleared by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, alongside a non-denominational shrine for last rites."After the Chennai floods of 2015... we had mentioned the need to have a pet crematorium. Though the Corporation has pet burial facilities at a few places in the city, including Kannamapettai, many pet owners who live in apartments often end up burying their pets on the beach and in other places," said Chinny Krishna, co-founder of BCI. "Pet parents can conduct any last rites they want there... The ashes will be provided in an urn within an hour of the cremation."Patna: Bihar's first, built to stop bodies ending up in the GangesBihar's first animal crematorium, built at a cost of Rs 3.57 crore at Ramchak Bairiya, will serve both pets and strays. "The purpose behind setting up of this crematorium was to dispose of the dead animals and keep the environment clean as most of them are either left on the road for days or thrown in the Ganges," said Bihar Rajya Jal Parishad managing director Shirsat Kapil Ashok.The facility can cremate one animal at a time, up to 18 a day, and will serve Patna Municipal Corporation's area as well as urban local bodies within a 50km radius.Bengaluru: The country's biggest facility, and its biggest cautionary taleBengaluru's BBMP-run crematorium at Kamakshipalya — set up in November 2015 at a cost of Rs 2.4 crore, and among the largest of its kind in India — has seen demand nearly double, from 98 cremations a month in 2016 to close to 400 a month more recently, with more than 2,100 animals cremated in a recent year alone."Not just pet dogs, cats and rabbits, we have even cremated a parrot, a 1.5-ft long aquarium fish and a guinea pig," said operator N Penchalaiah, noting a smaller animal takes 45 minutes to two hours, while something the size of a cow can take up to eight hours. Livestock — cows, oxen, race horses, donkeys — are also brought in, and Penchalaiah described one case in which police seized a vehicle carrying 81 dead cows after a complaint from an animal welfare organisation: "We incinerated them over several days."The facility's fragility caught up with it. A corroded chimney, flagged by BBMP's own executive engineer in a December 2024 letter urging immediate inspection and replacement, went unrepaired. It collapsed in a storm on April 14, allowing water into the system and knocking out the electrical furnace. "On April 14, with heavy rain and winds, the chimney fell and water gushed into the furnace, leaving it damaged. Since April 15, the crematorium has been defunct," said Suralkar Vikas Kishore, BBMP special commissioner for animal husbandry, who acknowledged the delay: "We are coordinating with private agencies to manage pet burials until our facility is functional again."The shutdown pushed owners toward private operators at several times the civic rate. Samrudhi Parikshit, who lost her Saint Bernard, paid Rs 5,000 for a private burial: "If BBMP's crematorium had been functioning, I wouldn't have had to spend so much. It's not just about the money — it's about giving our pets a dignified farewell." The facility reopened on January 12, 2026, roughly nine months after the collapse, according to BBMP's own announcement — closing out one of the more prolonged shutdowns any Indian civic crematorium has faced. BBMP has separately been sitting on a plan, first floated for the 2023-24 fiscal year, to build two more facilities in Yelahanka and Dasarahalli; officials have since indicated the plan may shift toward several smaller crematoria put out to tender instead, citing pollution-control constraints on expanding the existing incinerator technology.Nagpur: NGO does what the civic body couldn't in over a decadeNagpur Municipal Corporation sanctioned Rs 5 crore for an animal incinerator at Bhandewadi as far back as 2012, capable of handling 500kg of carcasses an hour. Bureaucratic hurdles stalled it indefinitely. Into that vacuum has stepped Rise For Tails, an NGO known for rescue work, which has opened the city's first dedicated animal crematorium at its centre in MIDC, Hingna — electric, pollution-controlled, and running on a donation-based model for both pets and strays.The facility grew out of personal loss. When the Vairagare family's dog Coco died during heavy rains, they struggled to find a proper burial spot — an experience that made them realise, in co-founder Gargi Vairagare's words, that "thousands of pet owners face the same crisis." The crematorium now stands in Coco's memory. "Along with the crematorium, Rise For Tails is introducing two city-first initiatives — an animal hydrotherapy unit and 'Sahjeevan,' a structured humane education programme," Vairagare said.Coimbatore, Jamshedpur, Hubballi-Dharwad: First-ever facilities, born of complaints and one company's initiativeCoimbatore's first crematorium for dogs and cats — a Rs 35 lakh LPG-powered facility built on SPCA land under the Namakku Naame Thittam scheme, with funding from the Rotary Club of Coimbatore Smart City — can handle six dogs a day, with stray dogs cremated free. A city corporation official said the need had gone unmet for years: "People living in apartments and congested areas were finding it difficult to bury their dead pets... They have been seeking corporation employees' help to dispose of the carcasses in the absence of a crematorium."In Jamshedpur, Tata Steel funded the city's first pet crematorium near the dog kennel in Jubilee Park, charging Rs 3,000 for pets up to 50kg. "Pet owners living in flats faced problems in burying the remains of their dead pets. Besides, our Jusco garbage cleaning workers found dead pets at the garbage site several times," said Tata Steel VP Chanakya Chaudhary, who inaugurated the facility. Ruchi Narendran, president of the Jamshedpur Kennel Club, called it one of only four or five dedicated crematoria in the entire country and likely the first in eastern India: "The demand for a pet crematorium has been there for a long time," added Abhishek Kumar of the Pets and Animals Welfare Society.Hubballi-Dharwad's twin cremation units followed years of unresolved complaints — the HDMC control room logs three to four dead-animal complaints daily, totalling 1,336 in a year. "To adopt a scientific method for the cremation of pets, we decided to establish a unit in the twin cities. Previously, we faced several issues when deceased pets were brought to dump yards. Now, these problems will be resolved," said HDMC executive engineer Vijay Kumar.An industry racing to keep upThe scale of the problem traces back, in part, to a shift in how urban India relates to animals. The Covid-19 pandemic further strengthened the human-animal bond, with many households bringing home pets during lockdowns — a wave of adoptions that has never really reversed. India's pet-care industry, valued at Rs 30,434 crore ($3.6 billion) in 2024, is projected to grow nearly sevenfold to Rs 2.1 lakh crore ($24.8 billion) by 2032, driven by rising pet ownership, urbanisation and greater spending on companion animal health and wellness, according to IBEF data.That growth isn't limited to dogs and cats, either. Veterinarians say the definition of a "pet family" is gradually expanding, with urban households increasingly embracing companion animals beyond the traditional choices, and clinics reporting a steady rise in owners seeking professional healthcare and grooming for smaller pets.The bottom lineSet against this data, one pattern holds across nearly every city: A facility gets built only after years of public pressure, an NGO stepping in where the civic body hasn't, or — as in Nagpur and Thane — a personal loss that pushes someone to build what didn't exist. And even where facilities do exist, as Bengaluru's nine-month shutdown showed, dignity for a dead pet remains only as reliable as the last time someone repaired the chimney.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Delhi | Silver Rate in Delhi | Bank Holidays in Delhi | Public Holidays in Delhi | Delhi AQI | Weather in Delhi | Petrol Price in Delhi | Diesel Price in Delhi | CNG Price in Delhi | LPG Price in DelhiStay updated with the latest Delhi news. Download the TOI App.