Ranchi, Oct. 20: Foresters today launched a welcome dimension to Swach Bharat Abhiyan by deploying three SUVs to tour pandals in the capital and collect Puja wastes.

Ranchi wildlife divisional forest officer (DFO) Kamlesh Pandey said the campaign, taken up jointly with NGO Jharkhand Wildlife Conservation Society, was about sending SUVs (Boleros) from pandal to pandal during all Puja days to pick up wastes and convert them into organic manure at their lab.

"The idea is simple. You give us wastes, we process them into organic manure. It's a win-win for all, as Puja organisers will have less headache in disposing wastes, which in turn will ensure cleaner pandals, whereas we will have enough material to process organic manure that will help our plantation schemes. Also, if Puja wastes are taken care of before immersion, water bodies should be less polluted this time," said DFO Pandey.

From 5am to 11am today, the three vehicles, with green banners stating Swach Bharat, Swasth Bharat, went around Piska More, Hinoo, Ratu Road, Kathal More and Harmu road, collecting Puja wastes, primarily flowers and fruits, which could be converted to organic manure.

"The response from organisers was tremendous," Pandey said. "All three Boleros came back full and we may have to engage more vehicles from tomorrow."

The collected wastes were taken to state forest department's nursery-cum-lab at Garkhatanga for processing.

Munchun Roy, Ranchi Zilla Durga Puja Samiti president, said the initiative reduced their work. "During Puja, we are so busy with crowd management and other arrangements that it leaves us with very little time to properly manage waste, which is why the forest department's initiative is praiseworthy."

Asked how this idea struck them, DFO Pandey said they decided on the campaign last week while interacting with the NGO.

"There is a lot of emphasis on swach Bharat. We thought why not also talk about clean Puja this time," he said.