With the objective of making the Pongala Festival more friendly to the devotees as well as the city dwellers, the Pollution Control Board has put forward a set of instructions to be followed by the devotees during the festival.

The Board has advised the organisers and devotees against the abuse of loudspeakers during the Pongala festival. It said that the use of loudspeakers must be controlled between 10 pm and 6 am to avoid noise pollution. Under the Noise Pollution Regulation and Control Rules, a sound exceeding the level of 75 decibels is not allowed during this time frame. The issue must be taken up with utmost importance and the sanctity of the festival is best maintained in a noiseless environment, the Board reminded the public and devotees.

The Board also advised the devotees to use baked earthen bricks instead of sun-baked ones in the hearths for the ritual as the latter may get powdered along the roadsides post Pongala and act as an agent for air pollution.

The Pollution Control Board also asked the devotees not to litter the water bodies like the Killiyar River and not to pollute them.

Board Environmental Engineer M Dileep Kumar said that the Pollution Control Board has taken steps to measure the air quality at places where Pongala is offered. The amount of dust as well as polluted air in the area and the amount of sound pollution will be measured during this year’s festival, he said.

The Board said that the functioning of the festival, which marks the largest congregation of women anywhere in the world, has been of international standard and appreciated the efforts of the Attukal Devi Temple Trust, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and other organisations concerned.