The Dark Side of Durga Puja: Pollution

[Guest guest]

NGO steps in as puja offerings choke Gomti river

 

Thursday, October 17, 2002 (Lucknow): The Pujas are not just about

celebrations. Hundreds of tons of offerings are immersed into the

rivers, drastically increasing pollution. But now some efforts are

being made to address the problem.

 

This time when people in Lucknow queued up to immerse their offerings

in the Gomti river, a group of volunteers took their offerings and

instead buried them nearby.

 

"People think that if they will immerse it anywhere, then it may not

be as clean as it ought to be. So the people want to immerse the

idols in the river themselves," said Anil, a resident.

 

The process of immersing puja material goes on throughout the year.

In February, there is Saraswati Puja, in March there are the Navratra

and in August there is Janmashtami.

 

Then in September there is Ganesh Puja and Vishwakarma Puja and then

the Navratras again in October. Finally in November there is Diwali

and Kali Puja.

 

"When we first started this campaign, people never gave us their

offerings and fought with us. But now they believe us and know that

we will immerse them in the right way. They now come and give us

their offerings," Chandra Kumar Chhabra, one of the volunteers.

 

But it is not only these offerings that pollute the rivers of Uttar

Pradesh. Every year, one crore empty liquor pouches and three times

as many empty milk packets are also dumped in it. Keeping the river

clean is obviously low on everybody's priority list.

 

By Kamal Khan

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/