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Officials, residents join hands to reduce litter during Mylai fest
The Panguni Uthiram, one of the biggest festivals at Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore, drawing thousands of devotees and donors offering ‘Annadanam’, often leaves behind food, plastic and other waste on the four Mada Streets encircling the temple. But, an initiative by a group of residents and civic authorities has managed to bring down the littering by almost 60 per cent this year.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
After witnessing the problem of leftover waste and the unhygienic conditions it created for the public, residents teamed up with the Police and Greater Chennai Corporation last year. It was announced that those who wished to offer ‘Annadanam’ would have to seek prior permission from the police.
This year too, a memo from the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Mylapore range) stated the food distribution could only happen in designated areas outside the Mada Streets, with proper arrangement for waste collection and disposal.
While the quantum of litter reduced only marginally last year, we learned valuable lessons, which has been put into practice this year. The result – the quantity of waste reduced by almost 60 per cent, said KL Bala, a member of Kapaleecharam Committee, a citizen’s initiative towards litter-free Mada Streets.
Ganga Sridhar, another committee member, said that the lack of dustbins was a major shortfall in 2017.
“We were better prepared this year, with Ramky Enviro Engineers (the contractors handling solid waste management) providing extra dustbins for each street. In addition, we procured around 30 one-ton recyclable bags, which the volunteers used in places where there was spill-over from the dustbins,” she said.
The next step was to weed out the plastic and Styrofoam reusables. Bala added that they had procured around 6,000 biodegradable containers made of donnai and pakku matai and handed these to the donors using plastic.
The hitch that the team faced were unregulated donors on North Mada Street.
“We got their details and gave them a low-down on the efforts that have been taken. This would help us track them next year too,” added Bala. Ganga added that the public announcement system, in addition to security-related messages from the Police, also requested the public not to litter, a development which had an impact.
Since the inception of the initiative, volunteers also stay after the festival to clear the streets along with the Corporation’s conservancy workers.
“Last year, it took us three hours to clear the four streets. This year, due to the significantly reduced amount of littering, it was wrapped up in an hour. Next year, we hope to improve on this,” said Bala.
Action Points
- Prior police permission required for people distributing food during the festival
- Additional garbage bins were provided. Volunteers and Corporation workers emptied the bins several times during the day
- Emphasis on eco-friendly serving options like Donnai and Pakku Mattai
- Public announcement system was used to ask people not to litter
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