The Mandal said this move was aimed at raising awareness about the problem of e-waste, which has gone largely unaddressed. (Express photo)
Written by Alex Michael Binoy
Keeping with its penchant for green, the Shree Kasba Ganapati Mandal has decided to tie up with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board Retired Officers and Employees Welfare Association to collect e-waste from devotees visiting their mandal. This move, the Mandal said, was aimed at raising awareness about the problem of e-waste, which has gone largely unaddressed.
“E-waste is one of the most hazardous and rising problems in India right now. With the Ganesh Utsav, our aim was to increase the awareness among people about this situation that we are facing and will be facing for generations to come, if not dealt with properly. So, our aim is to increase awareness about e-waste and how it should be disposed of properly,” said Nilesh Vakil, a member of Kasba Ganapati Mandal.
This awareness campaign is run jointly with the help of an NGO, named Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) Retired Officers and Employees Welfare Association, which is run by retired workers of the MPCB.
The NGO was started in 2016 with the sole purpose of the welfare of the environment. They have arranged many seminars, lectures, workshops to increase awareness about environment conservation. Right now, they are working on a waste-water management scheme, along with the e-waste collection scheme.
“We joined hands with the Kasba Ganapati Mandal and we will be collecting e-waste from the devotees visiting the mandal during the Ganesh Utsav and from some of the housing societies in the area, after which they will be sent to government authorised disposing centres,” said Richa Devale, a member of the NGO.
To increase the contribution of e-waste from devotees, they are conducting a charity work of donating books to schools in drought-affected villages in Ahmednagar.
Devale said, “We are giving around five to 10 books for each kilogram of e-waste we are collecting. In some of these drought-affected areas, there are some villages that are facing real issues when it comes to education and access to study materials. We have identified those villages and will distribute the books in the first week of coming October.”