Green Pongala: City paints a different picture

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Although Attukal Pongala is two days away, the Corporation's arduous effort to implement the green protocol at the venue seems to have little impact on the ground. Flex boards and hoardings have burgeoned at every nook and cranny of the festival zone while the Corporation claims to have made arrangements for an eco-friendly festival. According to the devotees, the Corporation has made no effort to keep the temple and its surrounding areas under the green cover.

"I have been visiting the temple during the Attukal Pongala for the past 16 years. I came to know about the green protocol implementation from the newspaper. Unfortunately, nothing has been done by the Corporation, as you can see plastic boards in front of every stall set up inside and outside the temple. It is going to be difficult to clean up the mess later," said Sudha Karunakaran, who was part of a 25 member team from Bangaluru. Rugmini Krishnan who also belongs to the same group said that devotees were stung by the Corporation's lackadaisical attitude. "It's not the devotees who fill the temple premises with plastic but so do the Corporation-approved stall keepers. We always carry steel plates and glasses with us to avoid littering. Once the festival is over, they might arrange litter pickers to get the place cleaned. A complete ban on plastic is what the Corporation should have implemented instead of the 'green protocol' campaign," said Rugmini.

The shopkeepers said they had not been informed about the green protocol. "I have been selling natural homemade beauty products under the brand name 'Mathasree'. My stall has plastic advertisement banners but its just the same as last year. I paid Rs 25,000 and set up the stall. Nothing regarding green protocol or rules has been told to us," said Lekha S, stall keeper, 'Mathasree' Herbal Products.

But Corporation officials said a green protocol was not possible when the Attukal trustee has not banned the use of plastic at the stalls. "Around 70 plus stalls are erected in and around temple areas. We did inform the temple trustee about the need to implement a green protocol by prohibiting the use of plastic. But that has not yet been done, so we are planning to distribute a notice comprising the rules to the stall keepers in the coming days," said Mayor VK Prasanth. He also said that the 'green protocol award' will only be given only to stalls that have followed green protocol rules.

But temple trust officials said that the green protocol implementation is a slow process and it will take time to see results. "We cannot insist on the implementation among the stall keepers. We are trying to promote the green message by announcing it throughout the day using a speaker at the temple premises. The aim is to reduce the use of plastic by 80 per cent this year and hopefully, we will achieve the same soon," said Sisupalan Nair, secretary, Attukal temple trust.

However, the Suchitwa Mission has opened an information centre at the venue as part of the green protocol move. The Haritha Kerala Mission-Information Centre focuses on spreading awareness on the green protocol. "We are trying to attract devotees by distributing cards of 'Attukal Amma'. It is just a move to distribute the awareness sheet with rules to be followed, by initially offering them a free postcard of the idol," said Mallika R, resource person, Suchitwa Mission.