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Journalism of Courage
He was aware of choked pilgrim centres like Tirupati, Puri and Vrindavan. But it was the sight of Kumbhi sadhus camping on the dry, silted bed of the Mahakali temple lake in Ujjain that stirred Central Pollution Control Board director Dr T. Venugopal into action.
Now, in the first phase of the ‘‘EcoCity Project’’ initiated by him, CPCB will transform Tirupati into a model tourist destination within three years. Next in line are Puri, Ujjain and Mathura, which will be developed to give class-I and class-II cities a model to build on.
‘‘Most cities in India, especially these four pilgrim cities, are plagued by bad sewage management, municipal solid waste and traffic management problems. We felt it would boost tourism if we could transform them,’’ he says.
The detailed project reports for Tirupati, Ujjain, Puri and Vrindavan are complete but the CPCB authorities are not too happy with the results. They have decided to employ the services of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University (JNTU), Hyderabad, to help draw up the project proposal for Tirupati. Similarly, for Puri, they plan to rope in the environmental planning department of the IIT, Kharagpur.
‘‘For Tirupati and Puri, an expert committee meeting was held, with representatives from the tourism department, HUDCO, ASI, Ministry of Environment and Forests and CPCB. It was decided that JNTU and IIT, Kharagpur, will help draw up the project proposals. We will look at sewage, municipal solid waste, bio-medical waste and traffic management in and around specific pilgrim sites in these cities, and in the municipality as a whole,’’ says Dr Venugopal.
The lake around Mahakali temple in Ujjain — where the Ardh Kumbh was held recently — has been covered with silt. ‘‘We will be looking at desilting the lake and reviving it, in addition to upgrading the sewage, municipal solid waste, and bio-medical waste treatment and management infrastructure in Ujjain,’’ he adds.
The project reports for Ujjain and Puri will be submitted within six months. The funding for each EcoCity Project will be shared by the Centre and the municipalities. While the Centre will give up to Rs 2.5 crore, the rest of the cost will have to be borne by the municipality concerned.
