To reduce the litter and food wastage during the Arubathimoovar festival, residents of Raja Street, Mandaveli, along with a few children, stood on R. K. Mutt Road Road on Sunday, April 9 with a view to educate the devotees heading towards the temple.
The people who passed by were asked not to waste food and to dispose off the containers in the bin kept nearby. The result, more than 2000 people were educated in a span of two hours and a large number of plates and paper cups were collected and sent for recycling.
Here are some of the questions asked by these residents…
1. When Gods are out on a procession, isn’t the whole Mylapore area a temple? Why do people come to the temple, the street and litter it?
2. Why can’t people dispose used plates and cups in bins and keep the street clean?
3. Annadanam counters spend thousands on making and distributing food. Can’t they consciously spend a few hundreds to make arrangements for disposal of waste?
4. Many a time, the people who clean are the subject of ridicule. They are often told that this has been happening for years but the streets get cleared the next day morning. Why do they expect other people to clean their litter?
Photo and report by Ganga Sridhar, resident of Raja Street, Mandaveli
