Speaking with SBS, Mr Sanjesh Gupta said that flowers and coconuts which are offered in temples eventually are thrown out in the waste. This not only fills up the garbage but also create mess around. Mr Gupta said that to utilise these used flowers and offerings and to keep the city clean, he initiated a plan on his own expense.
He first built a pit at his residence. Then motivated his garbage collectors to collect flowers and other offerings of the temples everyday and dump it into the pits.
Pits for making Bio compost in Neemach, MP, India Source: Sanjesh Gupta
There are around 51 – 52 temples in the city.
Mr. Gupta said that this didn’t require any extra man power or expense as garbage collection has to be done. He then instructed gardeners and sweepers to collect tree leaves etc and add those in the same pit. This too required no extra expense or working hours.
Mr Gupta said, ‘Often people have ideas but depend on the government funds for their creative ideas. Here, I just looked at things differently from the way we typically look at. ... We should not just sit and wait for funds or extra hours. We need to think off the beaten path.’
Mr. Sanjesh Gupta , Chief Municpal Officer, Neemach, Madhya Pradesh India Source: Sanjesh Gupta
To make compost, Mr. Gupta used age old method of using Jaggery layers which acts like culture for making compost. After a certain period, the compost gets ready. As it is known, the compost made of flowers is not only an expensive one but is considered as the best.
Mr. Gupta added that we spend money on buying fertilisers where as this could be a great alternative. He said that his city population is very happy with this outcome and enthusiastic too for keeping their city clean.
He explained that compost made out of only flowers takes about 15-20 days, the mix of flowers and leaves take around 35- 40 days and same when added the coconut shells too.
Flowers and leaves etc in the pit for making of compost Source: Sanjesh Gupta
At the moment, there are 18-19 pits around the city so that the flowers, coconut and leaves etc can be collected without any hassle. Neenach city has big banglows for officers, hence most of the compost is being used for the gardening purpose.
Over the period of time, this could start generating income too. Mr. Gupta has already explored and worked on the pricing etc if in future, this compost arrives in the market. That means there would be some income generation possibility too.
Compost Pit Source: Sanjesh Gupta
Mr Gupta said that we all work and may be with full dedication for a given job but we must think outside the box and contribute.
He said that he had been motivated by India's PM Mr. Narendra Modi’s call for ‘Swacch Bharat’ (Clean India) and aims to see his city ‘ Neemach’ on the top in the list of Cleanest city of India.
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