Every day, thousands of devotees from all over the country reach Shrikshetra Alandi to pay their homage to Shree Dnyaneshwar Mauli’s Samadhi. At the Samadhi, devotees offer garlands and flowers. This generates Nirmalya in a big quantity, every day. Due to the non-development of the Nirmalyachi disposal system, there was a double problem of environmental damage as well as trampling on devotees’ faith. Furthermore, large amounts of water were used to clean dishes and food bowls after Bhojan-prasad. The Devasthan Sansthan has now begun to use Patravalis and Drones made from natural leaves. But the question was how to properly dispose of them.

To address this issue, Thum Creative Paryavaran Dakshata Kruti Manch, Cummins India Foundation, and Shri Dnyaneshwar Maharaj Sansthan Committee Alandi collaborated in April 2019 to launch a project. All nirmalya and drone patravalis collected here are being converted into organic compost fertiliser in this project. Due to heavy rains in 2019, the Indrayani river flooded the project site, and the first batch of manure was washed away in the flood. Subsequently, on November 28th, 2019, 3,300 kg of fertiliser was made from 16,870 kg of Nirmalya. This fertiliser was ceremoniously distributed to farmers in the Alandi region. The remaining fertilizer was used in the tree planting programme.

Work on the project was halted for nearly two years due to the temple’s closure due to the Corona outbreak. The project has resumed operations now that the situation has returned to normal.