Kerala High Court Asks State Whether Suchitwa Mission Can Provide Expertise To Remove Pilgrims' Clothes Discarded In Pampa River

The Kerala High Court on Friday (March 14) asked the State to inform whether the Suchitwa Mission can provide expertise or technical support to remove the clothe waste remaining in river Pampa discarded by Sabarimala pilgrims.The Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar noted the submission of the Standing Counsel appearing for the Travancore Devaswom Board that almost 95% of the waste has been moved whereas certain pockets in the area still contain accumulated clothes in the deeper and uneven portions of the river bed.The counsel also submitted that engineering wing had opined that further excavation using earth-moving machinery has practical difficulties and cleaning has already been carried out to the maximum extent possible without posing threat to the safety or the labourers or causing damage to the irrigations structures.Further, it was submitted that technical expertise of the Maramath wing of the Board would be taken to see whether any alternative mechanism can be adopted to safely remove the clothes.The Pollution Control Board told the Court that once the clothes are completely removed, an inspection can be carried out by the Environmental Inspectors and a report can be placed.After recording the submissions, the Court directed the government pleader to take instructions as to whether the Suchitwa Mission can be consulted to provide a solution to the issue.“it appears that almost 95% of the accumulated clothes have already been removed. However, in certain portions of the river bed, some quantity of clothes still remains. In the above circumstances, we direct the learned Government Pleader to obtain instructions from the Suchitwa Mission as to whether the Mission can provide the necessary technical support or expertise for removing the clothes that remain embedded in the river bed, so that the Pampa River can be properly cleaned before the commencement of the next pilgrimage season,” the Court directed.The matter is posted to March 25 for the report of the government pleader.The Court had earlier issued a set of directives to curb the widespread practice of dumping clothes along the banks of the river.Case No: SSCR No. 43/2026Case Title: Suo Motu v. State of KeralaCounsel for the respondents: S. Rajmohan – Senior Government Pleader, Nagaraj Narayanan – Special Government Pleader (Forest), G. Biju – Standing Counsel – Travancore Devaswom Board, T. Naveen – SC – Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Chithra Chandrasekharan – SC – Ranny Perunad Grama PanchayatAmicus Curiae for Sabarimala Special Commissioner: Sayujya RadhakrishnanClick to Read/Download Interim Order

Kerala High Court Asks State Whether Suchitwa Mission Can Provide Expertise To Remove Pilgrims' Clothes Discarded In Pampa River

K. Salma Jennath

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