The High Power Committee (HPC) for the implementation of Sabarimala Master Plan would focus on cleaning the Pampa which the Ayyappa devotees considered as the Holy Ganges of the South (Dakshin Ganga), committee chairman K. Jayakumar, has said.
Talking to The Hindu during his visit to Sabarimala on Wednesday, Mr. Jayakumar said the HPC would embark on a sustainable and eco-friendly beautification of the pilgrims’ main base camp of the Pampa in the foothills of Sabarimala immediately after the culmination of the ensuing Makaravilakku festival in mid-January.
The Pampa is the gateway of Sabarimala and hence it is of prime importance to give an aesthetic look to this main base camp, ensuring the purity of the river, he said.
Shower bath huts
Mr. Jayakumar said the HPC was planning to provide shower bath huts along the river banks so that the pilgrims could take their customary holy dip in river Pampa after cleaning their body. The waste water flowing from these huts would be channelised through a purification chamber before draining it into the river, he said.
He said the HPC would also install two giant biogas plants at Pampa and Sannidhanam to address the pollution problem arising out of the huge quantity of hotel waste generated at these places.
Both the projects would be launched in the last week of January itself so that it could be completed well before the beginning of the next Mandalam-Makaravialakku festival season. The HPC meet to be held in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday would finalise these projects, he said.
Mr. Jayakumar said the proper disposal of the hotel waste would also bring an end to the menace of the wild boars straying into the pilgrims’ camp to feed on the waste.
STP at Pampa
Mr. Jayakumar said a modern biological sewage treatment plant with a capacity to treat 10 million litres a day (mld) would be set up at Pampa in 2017.
The Central Tourism fund allocation worth Rs.99 crore would be utilised for the execution of the projects in a time-bound manner, he said.
Mr. Jayakumar said a detailed audit to identify all human waste generation sources at Sabarimala and Pampa would be carried out soon to address the pollution problem effectively.
He said the modern Annadana Mandapam with a total plinth area of 70,000 sqft at Sabarimala Sannidhanam would be ready for commissioning well before the Vishu festival in April next.
