An intensive cleaning drive carried out before the pilgrim season by the Amala Bharathom volunteers of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math at Pampa appears to have failed to open the eyes of the authorities who were supposed to ensure prompt disposal of the waste collected from different parts of Sabarimala. The accumulation of a large quantity of waste, mainly rags, on the banks of the Pampa a month after the cleaning drive points to the state of affairs.
As many as 4,000 volunteers of the math made earnest efforts to clear the filth accumulated in the Pampa and Sabarimala in the cleaning operation held on November 3 and 4. The volunteers removed waste in over 5,500 sacks from Sabarimala and 4,000 sacks from the Pampa during the cleaning drive. Clothes in large quantities thrown into the Pampa by devotees were also removed by the volunteer force.
Though the district administration was supposed to make arrangements to remove the waste collected by the volunteers to the incinerator yard, the waste collected from the Arattukadavu stretch was found on the banks of the river, posing a threat to the Pampa with its re-entry into the river during rains.
Moreover, the rags dumped on the banks of the river also sullied the bathing ghats near Arattukadavu.