Nirmalya.
A word that connotes purity – it is used to describe the offerrings that are made to the diety during worship. The offerrings range from flowers, grasses, sweets to include decor that may have been used to adorn the idols as well. Once the ritual is over, these offerrings that may start to wilt are not considered as ‘waste’ as such. As they carry the blessings of the worship ritual, they are to be respectfully returned to the earth.
A beautiful concept – except when the offerings contain plastics and thermocol they do end up creating ‘waste’ that does not degrade.
Once a household festival, the public Ganesh Visarjan was popularized by Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar in 1892 in a bid to promote communal harmony and nationalism amongst people. We have since forgotten its roots and 127 years on, we have left a trail of destruction in the name of devotion the brunt of which is borne largely by our rivers today.
Burden on the River
Rivers are the core of any activity related to festivals, be it the Ganesh or the Durga festival or the upcoming Moharram and Bail Pola. The strain on the river is not just caused by idols, but also the copious amounts of Nirmalya thrown into the river throughout the celebrations. Past records have shown upwards of 150 tonnes of material being immersed in the river during the festivals.
In the early years of the Eco Ganesh campaign started by eCoexist we looked at the problem caused by the large quantities of Nirmalya being collected on the river banks of Pune. There are sixteen ‘ghats’.. points on the river where one can walk down steps to the river level and conduct worship. At these ghats, we found that large quantities of Nirmalya were either being thrown into the river or dumped on the river banks.
The contained items as diverse as coconuts, sweet boxes, cloth offerrings, fruits and flowers. They were generally bundled all together into a plastic bag and thrown into the river.
eCoexist did a study of the ghats in Pune, and invited Swach – the ragpickers cooperative to start a seggregation and collection programme with us. We ran this project successfully for several years until it was adopted by the Cummins group who took it forward with Swach.
Pune lies on the western margin of the Deccan plateau, on the leeward side of the Sahyadri mountain range. The city is blessed with Mula and Mutha Rivers that originate in the Sahyadri ranges and traverse across Pune. The two rivers further meet and upon their confluence Mula-Mutha river is formed which further drains itself into the Bhima River. The total length of these three rivers traversing through Pune Municipal Corporation is 44km approximately. Out of this, 22.2km is Mula River, 10.4km is Mutha River and 11.8km is Mula Mutha River.
In the year 2018, Swach saved about 120 tonnes of material from being immersed in the river. They adopted 18 ghats along the river to divert the idols and nirmalya from being immersed in the river. The Nirmalya waste is turned to compost with the help of the organization GoVidnyan and distributed to farmers.
For 2019, the Swach drive will adopt 20 ghats along the stretch on the river. The plan of action includes:
Besides waste-pickers and and staff stationed at these ghats, there is also a call for volunteers to help with the mammoth task.
Jeevitnadi, the living river foundation, has been working on rejuvenation of Pune rivers through public participation since the last couple of years. They are also a knowledge partner with Swach and volunteer along with the Swach staff at the ghats for collection. The focus of Jeevitnadi is to give environment friendly alternatives to people to joyfully celebrate the festival, with a lesser burden on the environment. Their plan of action includes:
Jui Tawade, Architect, Co-Convener INTACH Pune Regional Chapter, helped to compile this newsletter. Jui has also been training the womens groups at Ahwalwadi on various hand skills along with eCoexist.
