LUCKNOW, May 5 -- Even after repeated promises and a budget of around Rs 3 crore sanctioned over a year ago, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) is yet to begin work on the city's first animal crematorium, which would have catered to thousands of departed pets and stray animals. Since 2023, officials have claimed "work will begin within a week," but tenders for the project haven't been floated to date. The delay has forced pet owners to either bury their loved ones in open spaces, while stray dog carcasses continue to pile up near the Shivri solid waste plant, where the LMC buries them manually, previously reported by HT on October 5, 2023. LMC officials admitted that the project remains stuck in the tendering stage. "The technical bid has been submitted. Once approved, financial bidding will follow. Only then can tenders be floated," he said. An LMC official said that another such facility for pet animals will likely get constructed at Bhaisakundh close to Ballu Adda for which the file is getting prepared and the facility will be constructed in the middle of the city so that it can be convenient for pet owners. The official said that the final approval from the municipal commissioner is awaited. In the meantime, the city, home to around 10,000 registered pets and around 1.25 lakh stray dogs, continues without a single operational cremation facility for animals. LMC officials had first proposed the electric crematorium in 2023. The LMC executive committee cleared the plan in 2024, and by October that year, additional municipal commissioner Arvind Kumar Rao announced that the project had received around Rs 3 crore from the LMC House and tenders would be floated "within a week." But seven months later, the groundwork is still pending. On Thursday, LMC environmental engineer Sanjeev Pradhan claimed that construction will finally begin within a month on a 700-square-meter area near Shivri. "The tender process is ongoing," he said, repeating what officials have stated multiple times in the past. The exact fee structure for the cremation is still being decided, confirmed Pradhan....