Berhampur: In a major push towards better sanitation ahead of Navratri Puja, a massive clean-up drive was carried out on the premises of the famous Shakti Shrine Tara Tarini, located on the Rushikulya river bank near Purushottampur in Ganjam district on Monday.Around 150 people, including fire fighters, police personnel, local tehsil office staff, including revenue inspectors, members of the temple development board, officials of other departments, NAC Purushottampur, and local volunteers took around five to six hours to clean up both flanks of the roads towards the Shakti shrine located on the hilltop.The clean-up drive witnessed a good response with large-scale public participation. “We will undertake a similar drive in another to complete clean up the temple premises ahead of Dusshera,” said Binod Behera, tehsildar. Garbage, including branches of roadside trees, plastics and others, has been lying on the road owing to deep depression-induced recent rain.Sanjay Singh, secretary, road and building department, who visited the famous temple on Sunday, stressed maintaining cleanliness in and around the temple premises, ahead of Dussehra, as thousands of devotees are expected to throng the temple during the festival period.Singh has inspected ongoing development work of the temple.“Protecting cleanness is a collective responsibility and the response seen during the clean-up drive every Tuesday in different places in the district reflects public commitment towards environment conservation,” said Ganjam collector Keerthi Vasan V.He praised the initiative taken by local officials to clean up Tara Tarini temple premises and stressed strict implementation of plastic ban in the shrine.
