Mumbai NGO working towards making Prayagraj Mahakumbh 2025 cleaner and greener

The thaalis that will be sent directly from Ahmedabad to Prayagraj

My Green Society, a Mumbai NGO working in the environmental space is pitching in to make Maha Kumbh 2025 a greener experience. The Kumbh 2025 will be held in Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) from January 13 to February 26 next year.

Pitch

My Green Society director, Vishal Tibrewala said, "Since we work in the green space, we are endeavouring to cut the carbon footprint of the Kumbh gathering. We are sending at least 25,000 steel plates to the organisers of different ‘langars' who will be serving food at the Kumbh. Years earlier, they would serve food in a ‘paatal' (leaf) at the Kumbh festivals. Then, they moved to disposable plates for convenience. Now, we are offering steel thaalis, as substitutes to cut the amount of waste generated."

Vishal Tibrewala, director, My Green Society

Plate plans

My Green Society, based in Andheri East, claims there are several NGOs across India, "Working towards a greener Kumbh. We are doing our bit from Mumbai. We have been in touch with several ‘langar' organisers. This started nearly six months ago. Even as far back as then, several organisers said that they would not need steel plates as they had already placed orders for disposable plates. There were some who wanted them. There must also be facilities to wash these thaalis, so only those organisers/volunteers putting up tents for food, who have access to water will be taking these plates. We have tied up with an Ahmedabad manufacturer for buying thaalis at a competitive price. These will go directly from Ahmedabad to Prayagraj."

Cloth cool

From thaalis to thailus (bags), My Green Society spokespersons said its volunteers will be distributing more than 20,000 cloth bags too, "for visitors, who disembark at the Prayagraj main bus station and railway station. This will be offered as a climate-friendly substitute for any plastic bags they may be carrying. Our effort is to make them put away their plastic and use the cloth bags instead. We believe in being on the ground and working, actually witnessing and facilitating the change we want to see." The NGO calls this ‘ek thailu, ek thaali' and people can donate from R151 onwards for the thailu-thaali set. "We have a QR code which can be obtained after contacting us from our website, mygreensociety.org, this QR code can be scanned and details about donation will pop up." This Kumbh, one is expecting more than 40 crore devotees in attendance. The green body representatives said this is part of its overarching aim towards a carbon-neutral Bharat by 2070.

The history

The Maha Kumbh Mela (the festival of the sacred pitcher) is the world's largest public gathering. The mela is a religious pilgrimage celebrated four times in 12 years. The geographical location of the Kumbh Mela spans four locations and the site keeps rotating. The four are: In Haridwar, Uttarakhand, on the banks of the Ganges. In Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, on the banks of Shipra. In Nashik, on the banks of the Godavari. Next year, it is in Prayagraj at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.