Environment management system for Hindu Temples in Pune – unique idea by Pune students

Environment Management System (EMS) for temples is a unique and highly praiseworthy idea by some students from the University of Pune. An environmental database of major temples in Pune city and around, sensitizing temple management about environmental issues related to temples, exchange of ideas, and solutions to manage and minimize the environmental damage taking place due the huge crowd that throng the temples are some of the areas that the Environment Management System (EMS) will be dealing with.

Innovative methods and new initiatives employed by temples will part of the database and this exchange of ideas will help all the temples in the region. The project has already covered important temples at Mandhardevi, Alandi, Dehu, Jejuri, Narayanpur, Ranjangaon and Morgaon. Kalpesh Gupta, Pradnya Khodke and Priyanka Patange are the three students working on the project.

Prasad Kulkarni writes in Times of India about this commendable project

“The database will have all the necessary information about temples. Especially those factors that are making impact on the environment nearby the temples and on the devotees,” said Kalpesh Gupta, an ex-student of the environmental science department, who was instrumental in developing the EMS for big temples.

“Factors that will affect of devotees’ health and hygiene, and the natural resources near temples are considered in EMS,” added, Rajendra Saraf, the guide for the project.

“We are planning to implement this concept at 50 temples in and around the city. The increasing number of devotees are putting increasing load on temple management. They are doing their work, but the EMS will help in easing the load on them. The total project is expected to finish in six months,” Saraf said. The temple trustees, too, are finding this concept innovative. Moreover, it will be helpful if the good initiatives of one temple would be replicated at another temple, they feel.

“Our temple is doing vermi-composting of ‘nirmalya’. This kind of initiatives could be implemented in other temples too,” said Balasaheb Gorhe, trustee of Ranjangaon Ganpati Temple Trust. “But visiting so many temples and getting information about innovative initiatives is not possible for much management. Exchange of ideas can be done using EMS.”