With the closure of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple after the 41-day Mandalam festival on Tuesday evening, the Sabarimala Sanitation Society (SSS) launched a cleaning drive at the Sannidhanam, Pampa, Nilackal, and on the trekking path on Wednesday morning.
The pilgrim centre has been left heavily littered with plastic covers and other waste and the SSS mission is to dispose of the waste in a safe manner.
The cleaning process had been hampered at the Sannidhanam owing to the unprecedented rush of pilgrims during the Mandalam festival.
The SSS plan is to clear the waste accumulated at Sabarimala, Pampa, and Nilackal in three days so that the pilgrim centre will be clean by the time the temple is opened for the Makaravilakku festival on Saturday, Collector R.Girija said.
“Sabarimala and Pampa have been divided into different sectors and sanitation workers were deployed under a Revenue official in each sector to ensure effective sanitation in the area,” the Collector, who chairs the Sabarimala Sanitation Society, said.
As many as 700 workers from Tamil Nadu have been deployed at Pampa, Sannidhanam, Nilackal, and on the trekking path for the cleaning operations. Tractors are being used for shifting the waste to the dumping yards near the incinerators at Pampa and the Sannidhanam.
The SSS workers also carried out a cleaning drive in the Pampa river to clear the clothes abandoned by the pilgrims in the river while returning from the pilgrimage.
