IE : City slums go eco-friendly, spread environmental awareness : Sept 25, 2007
SAYLI UDAS-MANKIKAR
SEPTEMBER 24
IF YOU thought that the ‘eco-friendly’ Ganesh festival is a phenomenon which has been gaining momentum only in urban areas of the city, then sample this:
Krantinagar – a slum pocket in Kandivli- is a residential cluster of over 1000 shanties which is surprisingly clean. It has wet and dry wastes (called nirmalya-waste of flowers and leaves) properly segregated waiting for the BMC truck to stow it away. Ganesh pandals even maintain a low decibel of ganpati bhajans playing in the background.
There are posters giving out messages saying – ‘don’t use thermacol for decoration’, ‘do not use idols of plaster of paris’, ‘lets make fertilisers out of nirmalya’ and distributing handbills saying ‘A pollution free environment will show your true belief in Ganpati’.
Like Krantinagar, over 40 slum blocks of Mumbai – as part of BMC’s Slum Adoption Scheme (SAS) – have been promoting cleanliness, and anti-noise pollution through handbills, posters, boards, skits, and processions. This move has been encouraged through an eco-friendly Ganesh competition organised by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) along with the Centre for Slum Studies, sponsored by United Ways.
“This year we started promoting these messages right from August 14 and the response has been amazing. On Independence Day we asked people not to buy big plastic flags. Similarly we are going to collect plastic at the end of the festival for recycling. Recycling the nirmalya will be done separately – by making fertilizer from it through vermiculture,” said Arvind Wankhede, a resident of Krantinagar.
“Everyone appreciates it when the environment is clean and music pleasant during the festival. We have been able to curb the usage of thermacol makharsat home by almost 25 per cent,” added Wankhede.
A similar response was seen at Premnagar, Goregaon (West) where residents organised a ‘paryavaran rath yatra’ – a chariot procession appealing for an eco-friendly festival. “We organised it three days before the festival, when people go to get their raw materials for decorations,” explains Arti Gavde, resident of Premnagar and active member of the SAS.
The organisers -BMC and the Centre from Slum Studies – who started promoting the competition on August 1 are overwhelmed with the response and will be making note of participants after the festival is over. “We have visited the sites and will be taking into account different aspects like the what the idol was made of, decorations used, the use of plastics and nirmalya, electricity and whether all these were maintained an environment-friendly way,” said Dr Medha Somaiya, coordinator centre for Slum Studies.
“After taking all these parameters into account, we will carry out a tally for all the participants and the best ones will be awarded prizes in the hands of senior civic officials tentatively on October 2,” added Anand Jagtap, officer on special duty, BMC.
But BMC’s prize was hardly an incentive for the endeavours that took place to maintain a clean environment. As Gavde rightly puts it. “I don’t mind if our mandals don’t win, it is the cleanliness we maintained and contribution we made that is worth it. We have decided to continue this work through the year.”
Publication : IE; Section : MN Pg : 3; Date : 25/9/07
url : http://70.86.150.130/indianexpress/ArticleText.aspx?article=25_09_2007_523_006