Roses offered at the Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Dargah of Ajmer by zayrins (pilgrims) will now be used to manufacture an organic compost. Pilgrims vising the dargah offer only red roses at the shrine.
Presently over two tonne roses that are offered daily at the dargah end up as waste. The processing unit will be established as part of Temple Waste Management Programme.
The project would be started at the end of the month of Ramzam in association with the Rural Development Programme (RDP) of Art of Living (AOL) Foundation as part of its waste management programme. It would be funded by a corporate as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.
Speaking to DNA, Dr Adil, assistant nazim, Ajmer Dargah informed, “The project is being taken up as part of 100 clean iconic cities programme. It is a combined effort of dargah administration, AOL and Hindustan Zinc. Dargah administration will provide land and facilities for waste collection AOL will provide technical expertise and Hindustan Zinc would fund it through its CSR programme.”
“The dargah committee was not in agreement to sell the compost as it is made from flowers that were offered with prayers by pilgrims. So a nominal cost of Rs 6 per kg would be charged for it against the Rs 20 per kg market cost of organic compost,” said Deepak Sharma trustee RDP, AOL Foundation to DNA.
It is estimated that 30 kg of compost will be made from two tonnes of rose petals. This would generate around 900 kg organic compost in a month. The method being adopted would require three days to manufacture compost. There have earlier been attempts to manufacture gulkand from the petals of roses offered at the dargah, but it failed to pick up.
