Thiruvananthapuram: The Suchitwa Mission, along with city corporation, will be putting up around 300 volunteers to ensure a ‘green and clean’ Attukal Pongala. “This year the volunteers will be fielded only in the 3-4 kilometre radius around Attukal temple. Next year, we hope to cover the entire area. However, the stress is not on policing, as this has to be a public movement. There should be a change in our attitudes,” said Suchitwa Mission Executive Director K Vasuki.
The Mission hopes that everywhere else, the campaign and the appeal to the public will work. Devotees will not be allowed to carry disposable items, be it tissue papers, plastic carry bags, paper cups and plastic water bottles. They will have to carry their own steel plates and tumblers.
Volunteers close to the temple area will not just stop devotees from carrying disposable items, but will provide them with alternatives. Say for example, the volunteers will hand out cloth bags to replace plastic bags. More than '30 lakhs has been allocated for this purpose.
The Food Safety Commissioner has issued instructions to those providing ‘annadanam’, to avoid plastic plates and cups. The Corporation will provide water in steel tumblers at various spots. In addition, once the festival is over, more than 1,500 personnel will be deployed by the Corporation to clean the city.
Apart from the 300 volunteers which Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and Suchitwa Mission will deploy, they will also take the help of Kudumbashree, ASHA and NSS workers. As many of these are women workers and will be part of the Pongala, they will be able to influence the women around to make greener choices, according to Vasuki.
Ultimately, the success of the campaign rests with how well the people take to the ‘Green Protocol’.
“We want all the devotes of Attukal Devi to bring steel plates and steel glasses this year and donate at least one steel glass as a token of their promise that in the coming years also they will avoid the use of plastic and disposable items,” said Vasuki.
This is the first time that Suchitwa Mission’s ‘Green Protocol’ has been employed at Attukal Pongala. Earlier the protocol was enforced in the National Games and the State School Arts festival.
