Jamshedpur: District administration and the puja committees are working for a safe and environment friendly Durga Puja in the city this year. The puja committees have been asked to make the pandals and its nearby area ‘plastic free zone’.
“Representatives of the Jamshedpur Durga Puja Kendriya Samity (JDPKS) – an umbrella organization of the puja committees-have proposed for making the puja pandals a plastic free zone to show their seriousness towards environment factors. We have welcomed their proposal and asked the puja committees to show sensitivity towards environment,” an official.
There are around 290 puja committees which would be erecting their pandals during the festivity kicking off from October 18 this year and this year the committees will use cloth bags instead of plastic carry bags to give away the bhog handis.
JDPKS representative Ram Babu Singh said that they will be procuring around 3 lakh cloth bags with help of Rotary Club of Jamshedpur and distribute it amongst different puja committees.
District administration will also be issuing directive to the local police stations to ensure that public amplifiers are not used from pandals after 10 pm.
In a novel initiative other than the festive season of Durga Puja where the Rotary Club has decided to distribute either jute bags or cloth bags for bhog distribution. Since the consumption of polythene bags are huge with every pandal distributing bhogs in polythene bags, this would be the best time to send the message across the city.
“As part of our novel attempt We would identify some of the biggest puja pandals where we would distribute the eco-friendly bags. We would also try to convince the puja committees to use such bags so that the message is clear. However, we are now trying to get more and more sponsorships so that we can cover more pandals at various places. The Jamshedpur Durga Puja Kendriya Samity would be helping us in the campaign,” said one of the key members of the campaign.
Ram Babu Singh, general secretary of JKDPS said that committees should earmark their priorities for work to be completed before the festivals. He promised to get the work completed within the stipulated time and asked the committee members to submit their problems in writing.
He went on to add that the members of the organisation have been directed to ensure that they use idols made of non-toxic colour only. From last few years they are working hard to stop water pollution during immersion of idols.
This year too they would strictly implement the guidelines During the meeting, the members raised problems concerned with cleanliness of the ghats, electricity and other issues.