Delhi’s Birla Temple Celebrates Swachh Chhath, Gets Compost Machine To Convert Flower Waste

New Delhi: Spread over seven acres, Shri Lakshmi Narayan temple, popularly called Birla Mandir that boasts of beautiful carvings and marble work, can now also be called a ‘Swachh Temple’. Thanks to the composting machine that will help convert the flower waste from the temple into fertilizers, thereby reducing the waste load from the planet. The composting machine has been provided by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi to the mandir on the occasion of Chhath Puja. This is the fifth religious institute in New Delhi that has been given this ‘swachh gift’ by MP Meenakshi Lekhi. Speaking to NDTV about the initiative, Ms Lekhi said,

“Last year, we started providing religious institutes the composting machines so that they can convert the flower or food waste into fertilizers, something that can be used further instead of just adding a pile on planet’s waste shoulders. Our religious institutes generate a lot of waste which doesn’t get proper treatment at all, thus it ends up polluting our soil, water and land. From this mission, we wanted to treat the ‘devotional aspect’ of waste, without harming the planet.”

Also Read: In These Mumbai Temples, Offerings Of Faith Get A Green Turnaround As They Are Turned Into Compost

Ms Lekhi further adds,

Currently, Birla temple is the fifth religious institute that has been provided with composting machines, our target is to at least cover 10 in one constituency before November 23.

Highlighting more aspects of the mission, Ms Lekhi said,

As a first step, we target a particular religious institute, then make a plan on how that institute can utilise the compost fertilizer in an effective way. For example, in Jhandewalan temple, devotees take back the compost with them and put it in their gardens or hawan samagiris, whereas in Jaganath temple, using compost fresh flowers are made for devotees, so it is like a complete circle within. Then, once the composting machine is set, we do surveys to know what difference the machine is making on-ground. Ideally, through this mission, we want to make self-help-groups within the religious institutes and create employment opportunities for physically challenged people and widows.

Also Read: Mumbai’s Cleanest Religious Institution Is Now Producing Electricity From Garbage

Ms Lekhi also shared the glimpses of the initiative on her social media. She added, “On the occasion of Chhath Puja, we have installed flower waste to compost machine in Delhi’s Birla Mandir. Flowers don’t lose sanctity, the process maintains purity and Mother Earth gets true devotion,”

Currently, Birla temple, which has a footfall of more than 2,000 devotees, with most of them offering flowers, generates about 200 kilograms of flower waste on a daily basis. Now, with the compost machine installed, Birla temple will be able to manage the same amount of waste effectively.

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.