NASHIK: The influx of visitors to Nashik on Monday to travel to Trimbakeshwar for the Shravan Somvar Pheri, left a trail of litter in the city.Health officer of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC), Dr S G Hiray, said that sanitary inspectors in all the six divisions had been asked to clear the litter caused by the pilgrimsvisiting Trimbakeshwar. The NMC deployed 10 sanitary employees on Monday to clean up Central Bus Station (CBS).

Pilgrims visiting Trimbakeshwar for the ritualistic pheri (circumambulation) during the Hindu month of Shravan, have littered the city with plastic, bottles and thermocol glasses particularly in areas like the Central Bus Stand (CBS), Mela Stand, Thakkar Bazaar and surrounding places. On Mondays and Tuesdays this litter is more than the other days.

The NMC until now depended on regular cleaning by the sanitary employees to dispose the litter which is markedly higher on Mondays and Tuesday during the holy month of of Shravan. But it was only on the Monday marked by the Shravan Somvar pheri that the health officer took cognizance of the issue and deployed the sanitary employees late in the afternoon to clean the mess near CBS and surrounding areas.

"The entire place will be cleaned up by the sanitary employees by late evening. Taking into consideration the fact that pilgrims will keep coming even during the night, we will be deploying these employees till the morning as well to keep the areas clean," Hiray added.

Agreeing that the NMC had not detected problem areas in the city with respect to cleanliness, due to the plilgrim influx during Shravan Dr Hiray said sanitary inspectors across all the six divisions of the city will be instructed to locate the major problem areas so these could be cleaned out regularaly.

"In any case, the road from the bus stand to Satpur and Trimbak Road, within the NMC limits, will be cleared during regular sweeping activities undertaken by sanitary employees," Hiray said.