Places of ‘Green’ worship developing in the city

By Pallavii Pitale.

With everyone talking about the green practices, especially as far as industrial, infrastructural and real estate development is concerned, the places of worships in Mumbai are not lagging behind at all. A few temples and churches in the city have started  the concept of  Green worship too.

 These places of worship are now combining the best practices of faith and sustainable living by turning everyday floral offerings into compost, ensuring a dignified disposal that enriches the soil. One such place is the Parashurama temple at Walkeshwar, where the pits for converting the flowers into manure have been constructed and the processing has already started. Also couple of churches in Mumbai have already started with such an activity.

The Banganga temple complex at Walkeshwar, famous for the Banganga festival every year, consists of almost twenty temples, will soon join the movement. Earlier the floral offerings( nirmalya ) used to be disposed of either in the Banganga tank or in the sea just 2 minutes away from the temple. It always used to be along with the plastic bags and kumkum which used to pollute the water in the pond as well as of  the sea and the acid in the kumkum used to kill the fishes in the pond. To overcome this, the Banganga temple trust shall soon be ready with the pits for the compost conversion. Other famous places of worship like the Mahalakshmi temple, The Mumbadevi temple, Babulnath,Haji Ali durgah etc. are also requested to start with this activity.

This indeed is a welcoming change.

Every developing sector of the city and the country must take a lesson from this. As far as the real estate industry and the sector is concerned, every developer, every society in the city must start with the green practises and living which is necessary for the survival of our future generations to come.