Empty Liquor Bottles & other Waste Abuse the Swachh of Kumaradhara River at Kukke Subramanya
Mangaluru : Just like the Ganga River has been polluted since years, and Narendra Modi after becoming the Prime Minister of India had promised to clean it as part of his Swachh Bharath Abhiyan, but until now nothing has been done, the river is getting MORE and MORE polluted, and the people are raising their voice MORE and MORE to do something about it- After three decades of efforts to clean the national river, it is a sad state of affairs that the river is not even fit for bathing. Initiatives to clean the Ganga began with the Ganga Action Plan I in 1986. Till 2014, over Rs 4,000 crore had been spent. But the river has remained dirty. So when the National Democratic Alliance government launched the Namami Gange in mid-May 2015, there was a new hope. It was the biggest-ever initiative—over Rs 20,000 crore was allotted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it his personal agenda and set a deadline: “Ganga will be clean by 2019”, it has now been extended to 2020. Wow- seems like only talk and promises made by our Chowkidhar? And still many want HIM as their next PM again- sounds STRANGE to me? Oh well!
And now coming to our very own river a few kilometers away from Mangaluru- the Kumaradhara River, in the southwestern Karnataka, one of the two major rivers of Sullia, merging with the Netravati River at Uppinangadi before flowing to the Arabian Sea, which is now totally polluted. The merging of the rivers is a major event for the local villagers, as they crowd the river banks to watch what they call the “Sangam”, which is a Sanskrit word for confluence. It is believed that pilgrims visiting the Kukke Subramanya Temple in Subramanya, must cross the Kumaradhara River, taking a holy bath in it before they go on to the temple to have Darshan, a glance from a holy person.
But do these worshipers know that the river that they believe is Sacred is filled with empty liquor/beer bottle, cigarette butts, and other waste materials. As they say “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”, I guess a majority of these pilgrims visiting this famous and sacred temple have abused the Swachh Bharath Abhiyan, and above all, abused the saying “Cleanliness is next to God”, before they enter the temple. A few say that you are not suppose to drink or eat meat before you enter the house of God- but looking at all the empty liquor bottles and also empty food packs of Chicken/mutton biriyani found in the Kumaradhara River, seems like “We don’t practice what we preach” kind of deal?
Having fed up with too many complaints made to the concerned authorities to clean up the Kumaradhara River, and warn people not to pollute this sacred river, two days ago, Chakravarty Sulibele, a Indian orator, social activist and a writer who pre-dominantly writes in Kannada and Hindi languages, known for his activities with the youth, and the founder of Yuva Brigade, “TSodari Nivedita Pratishtana” which is a sister wing of Yuva Brigade, along with his volunteers and locals launched a massive clean up of the Kumaradhara River, and they were able to collect over 20 tractors load of garbage, along the 2.5 km range, in which more than 10,000 plastic/glass bottles collected, of which around 3000 plus were beer/liquor bottles. Looking at such a large number of liquor bottles, it looks like pilgrims drink or get drunk before entering or leaving the sacred place, maintaining no sanctity?
Speaking to Team Mangalorean, Chakravarty Sulibele over the phone said, ” Kukke Subramanya is the only NAGA-Kshetra of the nation. But this is the condition of this Holy land today. We could collect thousands of bottles along the roadside, of which more than half were liquor bottles. Why do people come to places like this? Have we failed to maintain the sanctity? This temple Kartikeya is worshiped as Subramanya Lord of all serpents. The epics relate that the divine serpent Vasuki and other serpents found refuge under Subramanya when threatened by the Garuda. It is believed that pilgrims visiting the Kukke Subrahmanya Temple must cross the Kumaradhara, taking a holy bath in it before they go on to the temple to have darshan”.
“But at present this river is under government control. Like every temple faces the problem, this Temple too is suffering under the govt control. The authorities are only interested in collecting money and not developing the Teertha Kshetra. The result is visible through the river. Sorry to say Kumaradhara is dying! Seems like Environmental division’s NOCs are for sale, when you see lodges after lodges getting constructed around the Temple, thereby violating all the norms. The waste from lodges, local houses and the temple too let out directly into the river, and no one cares about it. The river when flows behind the temple is called Darpana Teertha. Teertha is Holy water but this has become gutter literally. People do all kind of nonsense here. Probably this was the toughest cleaning job for @yuva_brigade volunteers!” added Sulibele.
He further said, “It seems they have constructed a Sewage Treatment Plant at the cost of Rs 12 crores and unfortunately it’s not working now. All the waste water enters the plant, wait there for a day or two and later they just let the waste water into the river. Who is to be held responsible for this stupidity? Shops don’t keep waste bins, but they make business- they dump all their garbage into this river. Allowing people to use soap for taking bath and washing their clothes, but there is no one to stop people from leaving used clothes behind in the river. We could collect at least 20 tractor load of waste from river during the last two days. We did awareness campaign with the help of @snpkarnataka SodariNiveditaPratishthana whose volunteers reached every shops and lodges of the vicinity and requested them to maintain the sanctity of the holy river. Only few responded positively, while the rest were just passing the buck”
“I heartily thank PDO of local Panchayat who stood with us and gave every possible support. He and the president of Panchayat with few members felicitated the state convener of YuvaBrigade. A proud moment for all of us! This is what I want to tell our Chief Minister, ” Dear Kumaraswamyji, this Kshetra adds value and money to the tourism of Karnataka. You being a God FEARING man, should take the initiative and step forward to restore Kumaradhara! Punish mercilessly those who spoil the holy river”.
In conclusion, we heard that the authority is spending nearly Rs 100 crore for Golden Chariot to be used in the temple. While so much money is spent on a chariot, wouldn’t be advisable that a portion of such a huge amount could have been used for the clean up and prevention of this Sacred river? It is learnt that without the river no temple exists- so the govt who is in control of this Temple or the Temple honchos should take an initiative in saving the river, temple and the legacy. Littering the temple surroundings should be stopped. It’s high time to treat these places with respect and devotion, and devotees need to have discipline. Are tehse Devotees or picnickers? There is dress-code, why no code for such things, like littering, drinking alcohol in the temple vicinity?
Devotees need to keep these activities miles away from temple, or either police or temple authorities should take action. This situation portraits the model of education and low self esteem for our tradition and religious practices. We just accept anything Western as good and belittle Indian traditional practices. Shame on us. But until police take strict action, such things will continue and people will still drink in every nook and corner of roads, with no morality, and dump the empty bottles and other waste into the river. With such kind of Swachh abuse still going, there is a BIG doubt that PM Modi’s “Swachh Bharath Abhiyan”success before 2 October 2019 on Gandhi Jayanthi will NOT be a DREAM come TRUE!
