Indian officials and leading ... NRIs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have denied reports of Gulf states banning the cremation of bodies.

.. Indian Consul General in Dubai Prabha Dayal said: "There is no ban on cremations and the facilities in Dubai continue as before."

Bharat Kumar Shah, a leading Dubai-based NRI businessman and a member of the cremation ground management committee, said the local authorities had, in fact, allotted a such bigger plot of land for a new crematorium ... nearly 20 times bigger than the present one ... Mr. Shah said the new crematorium, is expected to come up in about two years and would have much better facilities than the existing one. Mr. Dayal said that ...there were also cremation facilities in Sharjah.

Meanwhile, Indian ambassador to the UAE M.P.M. Menon has requested the authorities ... to allow similar facilities in the UAE capital. "They have promised to consider our request, he said. ..                                                                  (Source: The Times of India, 20 March, 1998)