Uttarakhand Govt Appeals Pilgrims to Stop Plastic Waste at Shrines

"He appealed to all pilgrims visiting the state to avoid littering plastic waste or any other kind of garbage," it added.

"The Uttarakhand government is making every possible effort to protect the environment of pilgrimage sites, as well as the region's holy rivers and the Himalayan ecosystem. Continuous cleanliness drives are being carried out at the shrines and along the pilgrimage routes through municipal bodies and gram panchayats," it read out.

Notably, amid the surge of pilgrims at Kedarnath Temple, the Kedarnath Nagar Panchayat has achieved significant success in keeping the shrine free from plastic waste. "Within the first week of the yatra itself, the municipality collected and compacted nearly 1,000 kilograms of plastic waste. It is also planning to construct permanent pits for the disposal of wet waste," it added.

The portals of the eleventh Jyotirlinga, Kedarnath Dham, were opened on April 22. "From the very first day of the pilgrimage, record numbers of devotees have been arriving, leading to a substantial increase in plastic waste--primarily due to water bottles. However, the Nagar Panchayat was already prepared for this situation. A Material Recovery Facility (MRF) spread over 3,000 square feet has been set up at the site. Here, collected plastic and other solid waste are sorted into 15 different categories, including plastic, glass, metal (tin), and cloth," it added.

It added that a compactor machine has also been installed at the facility, which compresses plastic bottles and similar waste into bundles weighing 30-40 kilograms each.

Executive Officer Neeraj Kukreti stated that around 1,000 kilograms of plastic waste had been collected within the first week itself, which will now be sold, generating revenue for the municipal body, it added.

He added that glass, tin, and other waste materials are also being collected on-site and will later be transported to Sonprayag and sold as scrap.

"The Nagar Panchayat is conducting cleaning operations in two shifts--morning and evening--with 55 sanitation workers deployed. Additionally, another agency is responsible for maintaining cleanliness along the pilgrimage route, ensuring overall hygiene at the shrine," it read out.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also appealed to pilgrims visiting Uttarakhand to refrain from spreading single-use plastic waste. During his recent visit to Dehradun for the inauguration of the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, he included environmental conservation and avoiding single-use plastic among his five key appeals to tourists and devotees visiting the state, it added.

- ANI