With Ambedkarites converging on park for his death anniversary, civic body seems hellbent on ensuring cleanliness
Year after year, followers of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar converge on Shivaji Park on the occasion of his death anniversary on December 6 and leave tonnes of garbage in their wake. This year, the BMC has decided to spread awareness among the followers about the need for cleanliness and the importance of segregating dry and wet waste. While the Mahaparinirvan Divas or death anniversary will be observed on Wednesday, hundreds of followers have already landed in Mumbai. This year, the BMC has made some systematic arrangements at the park and adjoining areas.
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Sleeping arrangements made for Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar followers at Shivaji Park
mid-day visited the park in the wee hours today and found that there was heavy police bandobast already deployed around the park. A huge pandal had already been erected on the ground with separate space for men and women to rest during the night.
The most interesting sight, however, was the huge banners BMC had installed, that spoke about maintaining cleanliness and the importance of a Swacch Bharat.
An NGO fed around 300 followers at Shivaji Park last night. Pics/ Pradeep Dhivar
While there were around 2,000-2,500 people who were already at Shivaji Park, the BMC has made arrangements of 50 mobile toilets inside the ground. There were also dustbins at many locations and plastic bags to collect litter. There were also doctors present to attend to any medical emergency. In order to prevent fire related incidents, fire extinguishers had been installed at many locations.
NGOs, too, were seen distributing khichdi to hungry followers around 2 am. An office bearer from Sai Kripa Mitra Mandal, Dadar West, who distributed food to more than 250-300 people said, "Every year, the arrangements get better, and next year we expect that the government and likeminded NGOs will come forward and provide food to the visitors. Many of them come from remote areas and we provide them with simple food free of cost, but we can’t provide it for everyone at the moment."
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