As the tourists and the local residents soaked in the grandeur of Dasara for 10 days, there was another group of committed people who slogged behind the scene to keep the show going.
And when the city slept at night having partied till midnight, this group got into action and slogged till morning to enable the show to get going again the next day.
They are the pourakarmikas who worked overtime to keep the city clean and ready for the festival by clearing the accumulated garbage at each of the venues, mainly at the Ahara Mela.
It was mainly due to their efforts that Mysuru remained clean though lakhs of tourists visited the city during Dasara. “The pourakarmikas worked between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. on all the days of the festival and collected garbage to ensure that the city remained clean and tidy the next morning,” said Mysuru City Corporation Commissioner Jagadeesha. There were many Dasara events, including Yuva Dasara, open street festival, and Ahara Mela and a large number of people participated in them. This resulted in the generation of huge quantity of garbage and the pourakarmikas used to clear them soon after the programme at night. The civic workers were seen cleaning the main roads in the city during night and their contribution in maintaining the city clean during Dasara was commendable.
This is how the corporation and pourakarmikas had maintained the city clean and tidy and presented a neat atmosphere to the tourists.
280 pourakarmikas
He told The Hindu that 280 pourakarmikas were deployed for Dasara duty to work during night and this was in addition to those who were engaged in morning duty of door-to-door garbage collection in residential areas.
“Over 60 tonnes of additional garbage was generated every day on an average during the nine day Dasara festivals in addition to nearly 400 tonnes of garbage that is generated daily in the city,” Mr. Jagadeesha said.
On the last two days of the festivities when the tourist inflow was at its peak, the garbage generated shot up to 90 tonnes per day but the pourakarmikas worked overnight to clean the city.
In recognition of their efforts, the corporation will felicitate them for their untiring efforts that helped in the smooth conduct of the festivities, the Commissioner said.
