Tamil Nadu, Mar 11, 2017: At the site of the 4-day Bokkapuram Temple festival organised by the Sholur panchayat in the periphery of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), the garbage littered by the devotees and the shops is still uncleared as reported by The Hindu.

The wildlife of the area has been affected as well, elephants were seen roaming around near the temple, consuming the plastic bags and food waste according to one local.

About 150 kg of plastic waste is generated every year during this 4-day festival and about one tonne waste is cleaned every year, according to M. Kumaravelu, field officer of CPR Environmental Education Center, who used to organize clean-ups after the completion of the temple festival every year, with the help of volunteers. But as the district administration does not offer them any help, they had to stop.

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An official from the Sholur panchayat had assured that the clean up would start by Monday, and that the delay has been caused due to the unavailability of workers to carry out the clean up process.

Nagina Reddy a resident of Bokkapuram who runs a resort, thinks that the panchayat should help them out with trucks that would collect the waste and take it to a waste processing unit.

Prepared by Upama Bhattacharya. Twitter @Upama_myself