The success story of the ‘Swachh Iconic Place’ awardee was 12 years in the making

Twelve years ago, 12 workers and two supervisors in charge of the upkeep of the world-famous Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple in Madurai came together with the aim of figuring out ways to ensure that the sprawling premises is kept spick and span at all times. It could well be said that their efforts have paid off, with the temple winning the ‘Swachh Iconic Place’ award, pipping nine other spots identified by the Central government last year.

After the temple’s Thakkar (Chairman of Board of Trustees), Karumuttu T. Kannan, made a few suggestions to the team, the modalities of cleaning and removing the garbage were examined by the ground staff. The temple, which is normally thrown open to devotees from as early as 5 a.m. till 10 p.m., with a short break of about 45 minutes post noon, has a footfall of about 40,000 a day. On festive days, the number doubles, and sometimes even crosses the one lakh mark.

Initially, there was a proposal to install dustbins at select locations around the temple for devotees to discard items like plastic bags and other containers in which they bring flowers, camphor, oil, coconut and the like for the purposes of abhishekam and archanai. The maintenance staff of the temple were sent to the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) to study the procedure used for the collection and disposal of waste there, Mr. Kannan recalled.

Detailing the initiatives taken to promote cleanliness in the temple, he said that devotees were given counselling and flower vendors inside the temple premises educated by the staff to use dustbins. Some well-wishers of the temple provided able support by assisting with the herculean task of clearing garbage, he said.

‘Self-propelling movement’

On the ‘Swachh Iconic Place’ award being conferred on the temple, Mr. Kannan said the recognition should go to the entire team of temple officials and devotees. “What was started by a handful of people a decade ago has become a self-propelling movement today,” he said.

He recalled that there was a lot of scepticism when the cleanliness initiative was proposed. Comments like “With a handful of staff, do you think it’s possible to keep the temple clean...” sime said. However, motivating the staff repeatedly helped improve standards, so much so that even during the Chithirai festival, the temple sported a sparkling clean look.

The temple spent close to ₹1 crore annually for the upkeep of the sannidhis and praharams. With some well-wishers and philanthropists also deploying ground staff, the temple now has 60 workers in charge of maintenance.

The Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, through the Madurai Corporation, is spending around ₹11 crore on the temple’s beautification.