The practice of pilgrims abandoning their clothes after taking a bath in the Andisunai stream in the Vellingiri Hills in the Coimbatore district is polluting the reserve forest which is part of the ecologically-important Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR).
Though a board at Andisunai advises pilgrims not to dump their clothes after taking a dip in the water body, the majority leave the clothes they wear in the stream and resume trekking with another pair. The dumping - a non-customary practice - continues despite the advice made by the frontline staff of the Forest Department stationed at a temporary camp near the stream during the pilgrim season.
The primary duties of the frontline staff are to ensure the safety of the trekkers, prevent them from straying from the pilgrimage route and protect the wildlife, but, they are now loaded with the additional work of preventing people from dumping clothes and removing them, said a Forest Department official.
