  In the present work, we develop a causal theory of relativistic non-ideal
fluids up to the second order in the Eckart frame using gradient expansion
scheme. Keeping the spirit of Mueller-Israel-Stewart formalism, the general
forms of bulk viscosity, shear viscosity tensor and the heat flow vector are
presented. Since each of the flux quantities explicitly carry curvature terms,
we show that our formalism finds application in astrophysics in particular in
the strong gravity regime. We elucidate two such applications namely in viscous
thick accretion disks also known as Polish doughnuts and in addressing
non-rotating equilibrium configuration, like neutron stars.
