{"id":265507,"date":"2016-01-22T16:03:37","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T10:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tehelka.com\/?p=265507"},"modified":"2016-01-22T16:03:37","modified_gmt":"2016-01-22T10:33:37","slug":"the-clean-up-act-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/the-clean-up-act-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"THE CLEAN UP ACT BEGINS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Steps
Steps of faith<\/strong> Sabarimala is one of the few temples in India where non-Hindus are allowed to worship. Photo: SK Mohan<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nMaarisami, a 51-year-old Salem (Tamil Nadu) resident, had been visiting the Sabarimala temple in Kerala for the past nine years. All these years, after visiting the temple he would go down the hill to have a dip in the holy river Pampa before returning home.
\nHe believes that a dip in the river would free him from all sins. After the bath, he would throw away all his old clothes in the river in the belief that it would help him start life afresh. He thought that dumping clothes into the river is part of a religious ritual until a 16-year-old boy told him that this year it is against the customs and rituals of Sabarimala. Moreover, the discarded clothes are clogging the river flow, threatening its marine ecosystem and polluting the river on a large scale.
\nThis tale was narrated by Melvin Benny, a class XI student of a Pathanamthitta school. He was one of the few volunteers posted by the district administration (Pathanamthitta) to spread the message of \u2018Mission Green Sabarimala\u2019 to keep the river clean.
\nThe mission started by the district administration with the help of Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), Kerala Suchitwa Mission, Kudumbasree self-help groups and other private agencies, has elicited a good response.
\nDistrict collector of Pathanamthitta, S Harikishore tells Tehelka that it was a mission in continuation with \u2018Plastic Free Sabarimala\u2019, a successful project in reducing plastic wastes in Sabarimala initiated last year. \u201cWith these missions, we aim to reduce the volume of plastic waste in Sabarimala and keep Pampa clean. Every year around 100 million pilgrims visit the hill shrine. With such a huge number of people visiting the temple in a limited period it was difficult for us to create awareness among the pilgrims about the hazards of plastic waste. Therefore, we sought the help of various departments to implement the mission \u2014 for spreading awareness and distributing cloth bags instead of plastic bags. With sustained efforts, we were able to bring down the volume of plastic waste in Sabarimala this year and keep the Pampa river clean,\u201d says Harikishore.
\nAs per the official estimate, each pilgrim who goes to the hill shrine leaves behind at least 250 grams of plastic. Last year alone, 8,750 tonnes of plastic; including water bottles, food wrappers, use-and-throw raincoats and plastic carry bags; were dumped in the area. The 1,500-year-old temple, which is surrounded by the flora and fauna of the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, faces a major environmental threat. Last year, traces of plastic were found in the digestive tracts of a dead elephant and a sambar deer. This prompted the forest department to explore ways to ban disposable items here.
\n\u201cAccording to the primary data available, the plastic waste in Sabarimala has come down drastically this year. Last year 20 truckloads of plastic waste were removed and this season only three,\u201d says Harikishore.
\nMoreover, various campaigns with the help of forest department, Suchitwa Mission, and Kudumbasree have taken place this year. Almost all communication channels were used to cover all trekking paths and roads. A campaign whereby vehicles of pilgrims going to Sabarimala were stopped at checkpoints to give cloth bags in return for their plastic bags was a great success. Women selfhelp group members from around 54 panchayats in the district were present all through the pilgrim season to collect plastic waste and distribute cloth bags to the pilgrims.
\n
\nMoreover, pamphlets and vcds showing the importance of safeguarding the Sabarimala ecosystem were distributed to all pilgrims. Twenty specially trained eco-guards were posted to protect and clean the pathways. A plastic exchange counter was also set up at the base camp wherein people could deposit plastic bags and get cloth bags in return.
\nAdditionally, 50 students from various higher secondary schools were tasked with requesting the pilgrims not to throw away their clothes into the river on a daily basis. Moreover, a signature campaign was launched this year to promote people\u2019s participation in the endeavours of the district administration.
\nMore than two lakh people promised not to throw away clothes into the river in the signature campaign. Assistant collector Sriram Venkataraman, who is in charge of the \u2018Plastic Free Sabarimala\u2019 and \u2018Mission Green Sabarimala\u2019 campaigns, said the signature campaign is one of the longest campaigns and is eligible for an entry into the Limca Book of Records.
\nConsidering a shift from mere guidelines to strict enforcement, Venkataraman said, \u201cFrom next year onwards, the district administration will adopt more stringent measures like imposing a fine on plastic bags and other wastes.\u201d
\n\u201cSince we cannot collect water bottles from the pilgrims like the plastic bags, a Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant was installed with the help of Kerala Water Authority at the base camp. With more of such ro plants on the trekking route, we could reduce the use of plastic bottles,\u201d said Venkataraman.
\nHe also said that the tdb also plans to install around 50 drinking water kiosks along the trekking route next season. He also said that efforts are being made by the district administration with the help of the tdb and other agencies to build more environment friendly comfort stations around the temple area in the coming season. \u201cThis way we would be able to stop the pilgrims from defecating in the open and also prevent the river from being polluted by human excreta,\u201d said Venkataraman.
\nHe also clarified that it is only through a continued effort that Sabarimala can be made pollution-free. To achieve this everyone \u2014 pilgrims, politicians and bureaucrats \u2014 has to take the initiative.
\nadarsh@tehelka.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Efforts to curb the pollution in and around Sabarimala temple are finally paying off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":265523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[56],"tags":[466,3926,6560,6565],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265507"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}