Pune: Air Quality Concerns Persist Even As PMC Cites Cremation Drop At Vaikunth

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) recently claimed a pollution reduction caused by traditional cremations at the Vaikunth crematorium, however, citizens and data paint a different story.

The PMC highlighted a successful drop in the number of open-pyre cremations at Vaikunth from 662 in October 2024 to 537 in March 2025 crediting their efforts to promote electric and eco-friendly cremation methods.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi praised residents for cooperating and helping the authorities to reduce the pollution levels.

Despite the PMC’s claims, the residents living in the Vaikunth area face increased pollution, which led them to file a Right to Information (RTI) application, challenging the PMC’s claims.

According to the PMC’s data, Vaikuntha crematorium saw a 25% reduction in cremation numbers over six months. However, the RTI data shows that the city recorded 805 cremations (52.7% of the city’s total) in December 2024. In January 2025, 816 cremations (41.2%), and 590 cremations (41.2%) in February 2025. Although there was a drop in the number of cremations in February, the proportion of total city cremations occurring at Vaikunth stayed constant, around 40–50%. This indicates that the reduction was not limited to Vaikunth, but part of a broader citywide trend, and citizens cited that it is likely due to fewer days in February, not because of PMC's efforts.

"Out of 46 crematoriums in the city, Vaikunth is one of the busiest. Traditionally, over 6,000 cremations used to be conducted here annually. However, the civic body has been promoting eco-friendly cremations like electric and gas-based methods, as well as the use of pyres made from cow dung cakes instead of wood. Due to this effort and increasing public awareness, the number of traditional wood-based cremations has come down," said an official.

"The report states that since January this year, there has been a drop of 25 cremations per month at the Vaikunth crematorium,” the official added.

Residents argue that without effective load redistribution, simply citing a drop in raw numbers does little to address the real environmental and health issues.

Locals living near Vaikunth say they have felt no relief from smoke or air pollution despite PMC's claims. With no real-time pollution monitoring systems at the site, there’s no way to independently verify air quality improvements. Health complaints particularly related to breathing and smoke exposure still persist.

"PMC should immediately make stricter measures to offload Vaikuntha crematorium by 50%. The core Pune residents living at the heart of the city should not be made to suffer. While PMC touts its success in reducing crematorium pollution, we see this as a classic case of data misrepresentation. The drop in numbers may look promising, but without proportional load balancing, and transparent air quality data, the problem remains far from resolution," said Chaitanya Kate, a resident.

Cremation statistics from October 2024 to March 2025:

October 2024: 662

November 2024: 605

December 2024: 636

January 2025: 579

February 2025: 588

March 2025: 537