Towards a cleaner Trikuta Mountain

Sahil Rasgotra. Updated: 8/29/2016 4:50:00 PM This Person: Then and Now

A packet of Potato Chips is a fascinating subject to study. Painted in bright and loud colours, which are further accentuated by it's over inflated size; these packets are available in various shapes and sizes. Irrespective of the fact that there is more air inside than the actual snack contents, potato chips are without doubt the favourite snacks of people looking to get some relief from hunger. A person would consume, on an average, one packet of chips daily; with the number going up if he or she is outdoors, on a road trip or a trek, main reason being its easy availability and ready to eat nature. And it would, more often than not, be accompanied by a bottle of soft drink, another interesting object in itself; the easy to carry small plastic bottles adding more to the convenience of having something to relish the taste buds, on the go.

Now where would one dispose off the empty packets and plastic bottles after their consumption? In the dustbin if eaten at home or in office; open on the road if eaten in a car; and into the hills if one consumes them while trekking. If the trek is a pilgrimage like Shrine Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, a 26 KMs long journey back and forth, how many chips packets and plastic bottles would one find in the hills along the track? I will give you some numbers: The shrine witness the influx of 30-32 thousands pilgrims every day, on an average, the annual numbers going well over 1 Crore. If a person consumes only 2 chips packets and only 1 bottle of soft drink or water, there would be around 60 thousand empty packets of chips and 30 thousand of empty plastic bottles, everyday. If we assume that even half of these are dumped into the dustbins installed along the track, there would still be 30 thousand polythene packets and 15 thousand plastic bottles lying around in open or eventually thrown into the hills where these would stay for hundreds and thousands of years, without degrading or decomposing. Do some more maths and there would be a staggering 1.1 Crore polythene packets and over 55 Lakh plastic bottles in one year. Like I said, these are fascinating, if one delves deep into the details (or into the gorges).

In the state of Jammu and Kashmir, tourism is the largest retail industry, the pilgrimage tourism to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine being its important component; having contributed significantly to the growth and development of Katra town. Presently, 30,000- 35,000 pilgrims visit the town every day, on an average. There has been an increase in the number of pilgrims to the shrine every year but at the cost of increasing harmful effects to the environment of the area. The polythene and plastic, along with other pollutants have been posing an ecological threat to the Trikuta hills, disturbing the natural balance.SR: What is 'Swachh Trikuta Abhiyaan'?

KKS: 'Swachh Trikuta Abhiyaan' is a biannual awareness campaign that our organisation, International Volunteer Foundation runs in collaboration with Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and other organisations. This is our attempt at sensitising people; pilgrims who visit Mata Vaishno Shrine as well as the locals of Katra, about their responsibilities towards environment and make them realize the importance of hills of Shivalik range which is one of the greatest hubs of Bio-diversity. The condition of Trikuta Mountain, a part of the Shivalik range, in whose foothills the shrine is situated, is worsening with every passing day as the garbage in form of non-biodegradable substances continues to accumulate in the deep gorges, polluting the hills.

More than 50% of the packets of snacks and plastic bottles, used by the pilgrims are not properly disposed off in the dustbins. These along with Polythene bags and rain coats and other rubbish, is thrown in the deep gorges of the hills. Now you see these are never decomposed even after thousands of years, polluting the soil and environment and spreading various health hazards. In hot summer that the area faces, these polythene and plastic garbage acts as a fuel to the forest fires, resulting in huge ecological losses. It is impossible for sweepers to go deep into the gorges and clean the garbage, without risking their lives. So there is a need to make people aware about the impending threats of this menace and encourage them to keep the track as well as the hills clean. Our mission aims at making the Trikuta Mountain 'Pollution and Plastic Free' by 2019.

SR: So how do you aware people? What all does your campaign consists of?

KKS: We have, till date, carried out four such 2-day long campaigns- in March 2014, October 2014, June 2015 and December 2015. Each time, we had around 100 volunteers from different parts of the state who march from Katra to Bhawan, a distance of 26 KMs up and down. On the way, these volunteers conduct a cleanliness drive, sweeping brooms and picking up the litter thrown on the track. They interact with thousands of tourists, shopkeepers and locals, telling them about their responsibility to keep the environment clean and green. Dozens of placards are also carried along the way and thousands of pamphlets are distributed to the pilgrims as well as locals, besides raising various slogans, stressing on cleanliness so as to keep the natural beauty of the Trikuta Mountains for all time to come. Our volunteers are our greatest assets and would always go the extra mile in their efforts.

In our latest edition of the campaign, a drama group Ek Sath Rang Manch was also involved and we staged multiples dramas all along the way. Characters like cleanliness and dirtiness were depicted by volunteers. We even mentioned Snacks and Cold drinks in our drama bringing the focus on main problems. It helped in attracting the attention of Pilgrims big time. We had also composed a song 'Aao hum sab mil ke gaaye, Trikuta ko hum swachh banaye'.

SR: Of all the things you could do, you chose to focus on cleanliness of Trikuta Mountains. Was there any particular inclination towards it?

KKS: Swachh Trikuta is not the only thing we have done or we are doing, however it certainly is one of the most important projects for us. The inspiration behind this came in the year 2010 when I was visiting the shrine with two of my friends from West Bengal and it started raining. Like everyone else we also bought 'Rain Coats' sold by locals, which were basically disposable polythene sheets. Now when the rain stopped, as we were keeping them back in our bags, we saw people throwing them in open on the track. The sweeper there collected them and instead of putting them in dustbin, threw them into the hills. I tried stopping him and an argument started which ended with us running to save ourselves from a group of sweepers as I told them that I would file a complaint. The incident stirred me so much that I pledged to myself that one day I will start a campaign against littering of these mountains and by Mata's blessings, I was able to start this campaign after 4 years.

SR: How has been the people's response to this campaign? Was there any difficulty you faced?

KKS: Initially, it was a little difficult to get our message across. The locals shifted the blame on the tourists while tourists didn't pay much heed to what it was all about. Our success rate was a measly 5% in first edition of the mission. The second edition later that year garnered a slightly better response. However in the third edition last year, we could see huge improvements. Almost all the shopkeepers on the track had dustbins, either plastic dustbins or the makeshift dustbins of cardboard, in front of their shops. Slowly but gradually, people have started to understand the importance of cleanliness and we can say that success rate of our latest edition was easily above 40%. Shrine board has also taken notice of the matter and have installed more dustbins, besides having recruited more sweepers, with the number now standing at 700.

SR: How has been the Shrine Board of any assistance in this mission? With which other organizations do you collaborate?

KKS: We are very thankful to Shrine Board which has been of immense support to this mission. Along with providing our volunteers with sanitation materials like brooms and gloves, the board has been instrumental in ensuring successful execution to this campaign. They provided us the security as well as staff for better understanding of the spots where more of awareness was needed. In fact, the food and lodging for the volunteers has also been provided by the Shrine Board in all the 4 editions. Working positively on the suggestions in the report submitted by IVF to Hon'ble Governor, who is also the chairman of the Shrine Board in April 2015, Board has replaced the polythene pouches, used to distribute 'prasad' with paper pouches. In November last year, another order was issued banning plastic and polythene bags, raincoats, Styrofoam and plastic disposable cups and plates from 'Darshan Dwar' till 'Bhawan'.

I must also mention the great support that the administration and the volunteers from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University extend to this mission every time we do this campaign. Shrimath Swami Vivekananda Youth Forum, Ghordi, Representatives from Taxi Stands of Jammu and Katra and students from Government Higher Secondary School, Katra have also contributed in this mission. As I have always maintained, Swachh Trikuta Abhiyaan is not limited to IVF but a joint effort from each and every citizen of the country. We have appealed to all the organisations to repeat the campaign as much as they can at their level, individually or in collaboration. We have no objection if they use the same topic or even same title as we don't have any copyright. We can do it only twice a year, sensitising only 45-50 thousand people each year. So if some other organisation can also do it, the campaign would happen 4 times a year, sensitising double the number of people.

SR: When is the next edition of Swachh Trikuta Abhiyaan planned for? What would be the changes in it, if any?

KKS: Next edition is due in this month of June only but considering the rising mercury, we have not finalised the dates yet as health of the volunteers is of paramount importance. In this edition, we are going to focus on Ban Ganga. With people taking bath there and washing clothes, the natural characteristics of its water have lost. The remains of soaps mixing with water are only worsening the situation. You would not believe but the area between Ban Ganga and Charan Paduka has been affected with the plastic and polythene to an extent that the soil in the area has developed a layer of plastic on its top. If not taken care of at the earliest, it can even cause landslides.

SR: what others activities are you planning in order to accentuate the impact of your campaign?

KKS: With the train services reaching Katra, a significant section of pilgrims have started coming from trains. We have approached the Railway ministry and are attempting that they mention about this mission on its website and Magazines, and also on the hoardings on the railway stations so as to sensitise the travellers about the campaign. Also, we have requested the shrine board to play the song 'Trikuta ko hum Swachh banaye' for one hour each in morning and evening to spread awareness about the campaign among the pilgrims. In the next edition, we will be staging the drama at 21 spots. We have also prepared the report on latest edition and would be submitting it to shrine board very soon, suggesting more spots where dustbins could be installed. We are also reaching out to national media as our reach is limited to state. Again I would repeat that one organisation cannot do it alone and everyone, including locals, pilgrims and shrine board has to put in efforts to realise the dream of a clean Trikuta by 2019.


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