Glass bottles to battle plastic at Sabarimala

Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): In a bid to tackle the plastic menace at the ecologically-sensitive Sabarimala during the pilgrimage season, the Kerala Forest Department has drawn up a programme to supply drinking water in glass bottles to devotees trekking the Ayyappa shrine.

The idea is to discourage pilgrims from carrying water in plastic bottles by offering them potable water in glass bottles right from the foothills of Pampa, from where the arduous trek to the uphill shrine begins.

The scheme, called "Sabaritheertham', was approved at a meeting convened by Forest Minister Benoy Viswam here on Friday and the officials concerned had been asked to work out the details of its implementation, Forest Dpeartment sources said.

As an incentive for renouncing plastic, devotees returning the glass bottles would be refunded the cost of the bottle.

The "glass-for-plastic" idea had been successfully implemented at Parmbikkulam Wildlife sanctuary, where the response from the visitors to it had been quite encouraging, a Wildlife official said.

"Of course, implementation of the scheme in the case of Sabarimala is a big task, considering the huge turnout of devotees during the November-January pilgrimage season.

Though plastic has been banned at Pampa and Sabarimala, devotees were allowed to carry platic bottles to bring water on the presumption that they would take them back. Plastic and such non-degradable material have been a major source of pollution in and around the hill shrine and the river Pampa.