Use floral offerings to empower widows: SC
NEWDELHI: Floral offerings at temples of Vrindavan and Mathura will no longer be dumped in Yamuna river, but will now be used to empower widows and destitute women residing in government-run shelters in Vrindavan and Mathura.The Supreme Court on Tuesday accepted the Uttar Pradesh government’s project under which the flowers will be provided to shelter homes for making eco-friendly products such as incense sticks and organic colours. The court ordered all the temples located in the two to deposit the flowers only with the premises of widow and destitute shelter homes.
“This mechanism will also help to keep Yamuna clean and also generate employment for the widows,” a bench of justice MB Lokur and justice Deepak Gupta told state’s additional advocate general Aishwarya Bhati when she placed the proposal before it.
The court appreciated the state’s effort and even asked the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) to extend the scheme to all major temple towns such as Jagannath Temple in Puri, Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh and temples of Varanasi. This, it said, should be done keeping in mind the welfare of widows.
The UP government was also asked to carry out an inspection of all its shelter homes of Vrindavan to examine and ascertain the status of the buildings there. The SC has been hearing a public interest litigation depicting the plight of widows living in Vrindavan. Subsequent to the petition, the top court had given extensive guidelines to improve their living conditions. It then extended the scope of the PIL and went on to monitor the functioning of widow shelter homes in other states.
The apex court on Tuesday
THE UP GOVT WAS ALSO ASKED TO CARRY OUT AN INSPECTION OF ALL ITS SHELTER HOMES OF VRINDAVAN TO EXAMINE STATUS OF BUILDINGS
also directed all states to provide details of shelter homes being run, number of widows and destitute women residing in these homes as well as the schemes in place for the welfare of these women to the Union ministry of women and child development so that the functioning of the schemes can be monitored.