Campaign to protect water bodies during festivals

Ahead of the commencement of the festival season, green campaigners in this southern Odisha city have appealed to the residents not to use the ponds as the dumping ground for the waste materials of the pujas and rituals.The festival season of the Hindus will start with the Ganesh Puja, to be held on Wednesday.It was seen that most of the people throw the waste materials of the rituals which took a toll on different water bodies in the city, most of which are managed by the Berhampur Municipal Corporation BeMC.

Ahead of the commencement of the festival season, green campaigners in this southern Odisha city have appealed to the residents not to use the ponds as the dumping ground for the waste materials of the pujas and rituals.

The festival season of the Hindus will start with the Ganesh Puja, to be held on Wednesday.

It was seen that most of the people throw the waste materials of the rituals which took a toll on different water bodies in the city, most of which are managed by the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC). It caused water and air pollution and was unfit for use, said Sudhir Rout, an academician-cum-green activist.

At the same time Rout also urged the BeMC authorities to make at least two artificial ponds in the city to facilitate the people to dump the waste puja materials and immersion of the idols after the rituals. He also urged the civic body to launch an enforcement drive to keep safe the water bodies.

Rout also the founder of Aryabhatta Foundation had campaigned for safe and conserve water bodies every year for some years along with other members in the city.

On the eve of the Kartika Purnima, the organization had also created awareness among the people not to sail the artificial boats in the water bodies. Several members of the organization had also cleaned the ponds by removing the debris dumped on the occasion.

Ubiquitous sightings of plastic bottles and wrappers floating on water bodies not only spoiled the beauty of these water bodies, but also affected those who rely on them for their livelihood, said Rout.

Describing the polluted water as the mother of all diseases, Shyam Sundar Khadanga, a retired teacher, said the spread of communicable diseases would be prevented following the cleaning of the water bodies.