Mumbai : It was for the first time that warkaris received the best sanitary infrastructure during their annual pilgrimage visit to the temple town in Pandharpur this year.
An NGO named Seva Sahayog Foundation had requested the government of Maharashtra to improve the sanitary infrastructure in Pandharpur. Around 1,500 mobile toilets were installed in Pandharpur by the government, which benefitted more than 10 lakh pilgrims who gathered this year.
‘Warkaris’, during their annual pilgrimage to Pandharpur usually halt during the night in the villages of Pune, Saswad, Jejuri, Loni and Yawat. Due to lack of toilet facilities in these villages, the pilgrims used to defecate in the open.
Kishore Moghe, Director of Seva Sahayog Foundation said, “The government had constructed only 40 to 50 toilets which were situated outside the villages. Due to this, the pilgrims found it difficult to locate them which forced them to defecate in the open.”
Around 250 volunteers from Seva Sahayog Foundation were present at every village this year to request the pilgrims to use the mobile toilets installed for them, 21 days before the festival of Ashadhi Ekadashi.
“The pilgrims were not habituated to use the mobile toilets and hence our volunteers were present at each villages to educate them about mobile toilets. We received a very good response from the pilgrims and appreciated our effort,” added Moghe.
Last year, the NGO had installed 200 mobile toilets at two villages namely Loni and Yawat.
