GCC Partners with Flying Squad to Build AC Funeral Ritual Space in Saidapet
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has partnered with the Flying Squad Ambulance Service to establish a new air-conditioned funeral ritual facility at the Jones Road burial ground in Saidapet. The public-private partnership (PPP) initiative, titled "Dignified Farewell," aims to provide a supportive and comfortable space for grieving families to perform final rites.
According to a GCC official, the civic body extended a 1,200-square-foot space to the ambulance service for the project. P.R.M.M. Shanthakumar, the founder of Flying Squad Ambulance Service, stated that the built-up area of the new facility measures 2,400 square feet. The facility is nearing completion, and its official inauguration is expected to be announced in the near future.
This is the second such facility under the "Dignified Farewell" banner. Shanthakumar has already established a similar funeral services facility at the burial ground on New Avadi Road in collaboration with the GCC.
Shanthakumar, a 65-year-old resident of Kilpauk Garden Colony in Kilpauk, founded the service after witnessing a severe shortage of medical transport in his youth. As a teenager, he watched bodies being transported in auto-rickshaws from an auto stand outside Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, where his father worked as a driver.
Over the decades, his company has grown to provide emergency medical, mortuary, and funeral services nationwide. The company has been called upon during high-profile bereavements in Tamil Nadu. Shanthakumar's hearse vehicles have transported the mortal remains of three former Chief Ministers: V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (in 1969 and 1987), J. Jayalalithaa, and 'Kalaignar' M. Karunanidhi. The service also transported the body of director K. Bhagyaraj from Apollo Hospital to his home in Nungambakkam.
Today, Flying Squad Ambulance Service employs 120 staff members specializing in patient care, mortuary management, and funeral support. The company's fleet features two "5G Super Smart Ambulances" fitted with air suspension systems and life-saving technologies, supported by eight paramedical professionals and three on-call doctors for critical interstate transfers.
