Source: NewsQuest Media Group Limited
LONDON, ENGLAND, February 18, 2003: Hindus in the U.K. are using a service offered by a ferry company which will send a boat out onto the Thames to perform the ritual of scattering of ashes of the deceased for US$80. City Cruises takes up to 50 friends and relatives on the half-hour trip. Sales manager Ian Faris says, “This is a popular service where predominantly Asian families are taken to a quiet spot on the river to perform the final rites of passage on their loved ones.” Strictly speaking, disposing of any waste into rivers is illegal, but the Environment Agency, which is responsible for waterways in Britain, is turning a blind eye to the practice. Environment Agency officer Tessa van den Burghe comments that, “Strictly speaking, it is not allowed as it is considered waste. But it is not a huge amount and we do not consider it a problem.” Greenwich Hindu Temple secretary Vidya Misru says, “Ideally the deceased are sent back to their spiritual home in India where their ashes can be cast with a prayer into the holy Ganges. But sometimes this is not possible and in these circumstances the Thames is used as an alternative.”