After PM’s appeal, clean-up drive begins at Kedarnath
Over 25 quintals of waste left by pilgrims, tourists and locals collected in last six days, say officials
UNPRECEDENTED PILGRIM RUSH FOR CHAR DHAM YATRA AND A SPIKE IN TOURIST INFLUX HAVE LED TO LITTERING OF MOUNTAINSIDES IN THE HIGHER REACHES OF UTTARAKHAND
DEHRADUN: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently highlighted the importance of keeping Char Dham shrines and routes clean, the authorities in Kedarnath area started a clean-up campaign under which they have collected in the last six days over 25 quintals of waste left by pilgrims, tourists and locals, said Rudraprayag district officials.
The Prime Minister, during the radio programme Man Ki Baat on May 30, had given a call to all, including pilgrims, to keep the Char Dham shrine areas clean.
After that a special cleanliness drive under Swacch Bharat Mission is going on in the Kedarnath shrine area under which wastes, especially plastic items, are being collected, segregated and sent for compacting to Sonprayag, said the officials.
Unprecedented pilgrim rush for Char Dham yatra and a spike in tourist influx have aggravated waste disposal in the Himalayas, leading to littering of mountainsides in the higher reaches of Uttarakhand. Environmentalists are worried that such irresponsible waste disposal and littering will damage the environment and increase pollutants in the higher reaches of the Himalayas, a large quantum of which finally make their entry into the rivers, damaging the river ecologies.
“A special cleanliness drive has been carried out under the aegis of Kedarnath Nagar Panchayat and Sulabh International near Bahairon temple and surrounding areas at Kedarnath Dham from where 25 quintals of waste materials have been collected in the last six days,” said Vikas Vinod, assistant director, urban development.
In addition to this, the district administration authorities acted against 19 shopkeepers and collected ₹11,000 in form of penalty for not maintaining cleanliness at Kedarnath.
“A special cleanliness drive was carried out by Sulabh Sansthan at Gaurikund and Rudra Point on Thursday in which about one and a half quintals of garbage were collected while 2 quintals of waste were collected during a special cleanliness drive initiated by the district panchayat authorities on the yatra route near Banggad, which is being processed for proper disposal,” said Dhananjay Pathak, in charge of Sulabh International, a non-profit.
Anoop Nautiyal, founder of Dehradun-based SDC Foundation who has been fighting against pollution and environmental degradation in Uttarakhand, said with a huge influx of pilgrims and tourists, waste management in the Himalayas is emerging as a major challenge. “If 50 lakh pilgrims come for 2022 Char Dham Yatra, spend on average 10 day and only 50% buy 3 water bottles/day, 7.5 crore plastic bottles would get sold in 6 months. This gives us some rough idea about the quantum of waste that is being generated in the state during Char Dham yatra.”
Inspired by the cleanliness drive, the pilgrims on their way to Kedarnath have also joined in and were seen keeping the plastic bottles in their bags to be dumped at the dustbins specially installed for the purpose.
Rami Devi, a pilgrim from Bulandhshar district in Uttar Pradesh, said, “We are contributing towards keeping the shrine clean by dumping the garbage at various dustbins on the route so that it does not roll down into the mountain slopes.”
Abhinav Kumar Kashyap, a pilgrim from Gomoh in Bihar, said, “Modi ji had appealed during Man Ki Baat programme to all pilgrims to abstain from littering the shrine areas and we have told our family to ensure no garbage is littered in open.”
The health authorities are also conducting regular medical examinations of the pilgrims on the Kedarnath route.
Rudraprayag chief medical officer BK. Shukla said, “Devotees coming to Kedarnath shrine are being treated by the health department promptly. Precautionary health check-up is being conducted by the doctors deployed on the yatra route to Kedarnath shrine.”
So far 54,449 devotees, including 39242 men and 15207 women, have been tested and treated through OPD, and 101 pilgrims were provided oxygen.
So far, 2,060 passengers have been provided access to an oxygen facility, he said.
Meanwhile, on the Badrinath yatra route, the district administration has constituted a joint team of officials from various departments to oversee the quality of food which is being given to pilgrims from shops, hotels, and restaurants as per the directions of Chamoli district magistrate Varun Chaudhry.
The district administration has served notices to 12 shopkeepers running their shops without a food licence and against seven shopkeepers using unauthorised measuring weights.
The joint inspection team consisted of a district supply officer, senior food safety officer, executive officer of Joshimath municipality, officials of weight measurement and the police department .
The team also examined the shops to control overcharging and directed the shopkeepers to paste the rate list in restaurants, hotels, vegetable and fruit shops and maintain cleanliness.