The Pampa Parirakshana Samithi (protection committee) has called upon the State government to check the pollution of the Pampa and conserve the environment at Sabarimala.
It has sought safe and better facilities for the pilgrims arriving there during the Mandalam-Makaravilakku season.
In a memorandum to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, N.K. Sukumaran Nair, general secretary of the committee, said the State had failed to implement the Centre-sponsored Pampa Action Plan. It could not even utilise the Central fund of Rs.18.45 crore sanctioned in 2003 for executing pollution-abatement schemes under the action plan.
Mr. Nair urged the Chief Minister to pressure the Union government for reviving the action plan and to take steps to implement pollution-abatement schemes in a time-bound manner.
He stressed the need for a scientific waste-management system at Sabarimala and Pampa, making the environment at the holy hillock and the surrounding forests serene. Now, the waste generated at the pilgrim centre flowed into the Pampa through unscientifically planned drainage systems.
Mr. Nair said the “Swami Saranam” project, aimed at addressing the water scarcity in Pampa and Sabarimala during the annual pilgrimage season and summer, had been sidelined all these years.
He wanted the Nilackal base camp to be developed on the basis of a well-designed master plan and following the recommendations in a report submitted by the Legislative Committee on Environment in 1998.
Mr. Nair called for developing an alternative route to Pampa, linking the Pampa valley to the Pampa parking ground, via Kisumom, Attathode, and Valiyanavattom, to avert traffic congestion on the main trunk road to Pampa.
By all indications, the proposed sewage treatment at the Sannidhanam was unlikely to materialise before the coming pilgrim season and hence, the government and the Travancore Devaswom Board should take steps to check the flow of filth into the Pampa from the Sannidhanam through the Njunangar stream.
