Kerala - Pathanamthitta   

Tamil workers do yeoman service in Sabarimala

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

522 workers leave after cleaning drive

WORK IS WORSHIP: The Tamil workers of the Sabarimala Sanitation Society relax after completing the post-pilgrim season cleaning drive on Monday.

PATHANAMTHITTA: Collection and disposal of the waste generated at Sabarimala during the two-month annual pilgrim season is not a simple task, especially during the peak days of the season. The credit for keeping the environs clean goes to the 522-strong Tamil work force of the Sabarimala Sanitation Society (SSS) chaired by the Pathanamthitta District Collector Ashok Kumar Sinha.

The Collector has duly acknowledged the services rendered by the SSS workers. Mr. Singh personally thanked the workers while distributing their remuneration at a simple function held at Pampa on Monday.

The SSS has been recruiting sanitation workers from Kambom, Theni, Madurai and Selam areas of Tamil Nadu with the help of the Madurai unit of the Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom every year.

This time, a total of 522 workers were recruited from Tamil Nadu. Surprisingly, a few graduates and technically qualified persons too were among them. For many, undertaking the sanitation work in Sabarimala is a divine mission. The SSS pays them Rs. 100 a day, besides food, accommodation, uniform, etc.

The SSS launched an intensive post-festival cleaning operation in Sabarimala, immediately after the closure of the Ayyappa Temple on January 20 morning.

The holy hillock and its surrounding areas were fully littered with waste and other leftovers. All the 522 workers were deployed at the Pampa, Sannidhanam, Nilackal and along the trekking path to clear the filth.

The bio-degradable waste was buried in small pits in the forests itself while the other waste materials were transported to the dumping yard of the incinerators at the Sannidhanam and Pampa in a three-day strenuous effort that came to a close on Monday.

The Revenue officials who effectively supervised the cleaning drive too have done a meritorious job in keeping the pilgrim centre clean.

The cleaning process had been affected in the last few days of the Mandalam festival as well as the Makarvilakku festival owing to the heavy inflow of pilgrims.

The SSS workers also collected the rags abandoned by the pilgrims along the banks of the Pampa while returning from Sabarimala.

Insurance cover

It was the former Collector K.B.Valsalakumari who founded the SSS in 1995. Her successor, Inderjit Singh, later introduced an insurance cover to the Tamil workers who formed the backbone of the society, later.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Tamil workers do yeoman service in Sabarimala

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu