AMC staff to clean temple premises

Even as Amdavadis will be busy bursting crackers
with family and friends on the night of Kali Chaudas, around additional 100 safai kamdars of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) will be working overtime cleaning the premises of 50 temples in Ahmedabad.

On Tuesday night, workers made sure that the area around temples is clean so that denizens are not welcomed by piles of cracker garbage and other litter when they visit the places of worship to seek blessings for a fresh beginning to the year.

Interestingly, the AMC has done away with the tradition of washing the famous temple premise with water this year to save water.
Regarding the plan, IK Patel, deputy municipal commissioner for solid waste management and health, said that they will wash some temple premises but with minimal use of water.

"Temples have a special emotional and religious significance in our culture. And so it is very important to clean them as people begin the New Year with the blessings of God. When citizens burst crackers, the roads get covered with paper waste and other litter. It is important to maintain cleanliness in the city," said Patel. He said that they would wash Bhadra Kali temple in the walled city area with water as it has a chowk.

On an average, around 300 safai kamdar work during the night and, keeping Diwali in mind, the civic body has added 100 more of them to clean the temple premises.