Alandi wallows in apathy, garbage

ALANDI, Pune: Cleanliness is next to godliness, but this does not seem to apply to one of the most revered destinations - poet-saint Sant Dnynaeshwar''s temple town of Alandi.
Alandi''s significance can never be understated as it consitutes a crucial element of the state''s socioreligious ethos. This was where the 22-year-old sant voluntarily extinguished his life as he took samadhi seven centuries ago.
However, Alandi, which last fortnight saw thousands of pilgrims depart on the annual wari (pilgrimage) to Pandharpur, now greets visitors with mounds of garbage, open and overflowing gutters, narrow streets without lights and a polluted Indrayani river.
The inadequate number of public toilets have forced the pilgrims to ease themselves on the banks of the holy river, the banks of which have been littered with ashes of the dead and prayer offerings (nirmalya).
Poet-writer Dilip Chitre said that although politicians allocate lakhs of rupees for pilgrimage centres, "it hardly translates into a positive change on the ground".