Brighten Up Sethani Ghat with organic lamps to reduce plastic waste

It's 11 a.m at Sethani Ghat, Narmadapuram located along the Narmada River and 80 KM from the capital of Madhya Pradesh. Devotees are currently taking dip in the river, with some having just arrived and preparing for sacred dips, shopkeepers are silently waiting for customers and you can hear voice of bells from the nearby temple. This is a scene which is very usual for any river ghat in India. Cleanliness is something that makes river ghats beautiful but you can see garbage littered everywhere at Sethani Ghat.

Bhagiratha Kar, a local fisherman, says,

“This garbage has happened because of the festival (Navadurga). “Cleaning has not been done here for a long time due to which garbage is visible.”

He asserts that the municipality cleans the ghat '2-3 times a month'. There is a drain near Kori Ghat that flows into the Narmada. Bhagirath mentions that the flow of water from this drain is halted whenever a prominent leader visits, otherwise, it continuously drains as usual.

Visitors donating foil-paper lamps

Vinay Sharma, who is donating a lamp made of foil and paper at the ghat, says,

“This lamp is available everywhere, so we also buy it…the municipality cleans it later.”

Vinay, who lives in Budhni, visits this ghat on a weekly basis. He consistently purchases five lamps for Rs 10 each and lights them on fire in the Narmada as part of their ritual after the puja. Vinay isn't the only one who does this. The majority of devotees who donate lamps at this location use these exact lamps. After they've floated in the water for some time, the plastic-coated paper from the lamps remains in the river.

Kamal making Flour lamp

On the way to the ghat, Kamal is making small balls of flour in his small shop. He is making flour lamps from them. He says, “It would be better if people used flour lamps instead of foil.” Kamal says that after the flour gets wet in water, fish also eat it. However, foil lamps become garbage and “pollute Mother Narmada.” Although the business of flour lamps is good on the days of Purnima and Amavasya, on normal days everyone uses plastic lamps only.

On the day we were roaming in Sethani Ghat, there was no full moon or new moon. As per Kamal's statement, we do not see flour lamps in any other shop. Kamal says that if the shopkeepers here stop keeping foil lamps then there will be no garbage in Narmada. He further says, “All shopkeepers here should keep only flour lamps at all times.” But another shopkeeper here says,

“The rest of the days we don't sell much. Even if we keep flour lamps, those outside (shopkeepers located on the main road) will stop keeping some plastic lamps. People will buy from them.”

Cow dung lamps waiting for the customer

When we asked about flour lamps at Kuldeep Pathak's shop, he said that he also keeps flour lamps only on Amavasya and Purnima days. But he further says that he has lamps made of cow dung. Taking us towards his shop he says, “We get these lamps from Bareilly.” He says that these lamps get mixed in the frozen soil on the banks of the ghats, which does not cause much harm to the environment. But he is rarely able to sell these lamps.

“Foil lamps are available for 10 lamps for 5 rupees. While, the other lamp is worth 5 rupees. Thinking this, no one takes it.”

Kuldeep believes that the government should get these lamps manufactured by self-help groups in Hoshangabad itself so that their cost can be reduced. “Whenever someone is coming from Bareilly, he brings 200 to 300 lamps. But no one buys them, so the turn to order them comes only after a year. If the government makes it here, its popularity will increase. However, now we are the ones who sell it.”

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