Ayodhya: Amid the hum and buzz of the machine, hundreds of workers are busy making plates and bowls for the prasad that will be offered on the day of the pran pratishtha at the Ram temple in Ayodhya Monday.
Some workers are loading the machines with raw materials, while others are counting the plates. They are racing against time to make 1.5-2 lakh plates and bowls that will be dispatched to the temple Sunday.
These are not ordinary tableware items, but compostable ones made from sugarcane pulp. The company behind this green initiative is Pakka Limited, based in Ayodhya.
The tableware to serve prasad was decided on 12 November last year after promoter and vice-chairman of Pakka, Ved Krishna, had a strategic meeting with Champat Rai, general secretary of the Ram Janmabhoomi Kshetra Trust.
The Ram temple tie-up has led to an interest in the company, which at one level is also being reflected in its share price increasing to Rs 240 in 2022 from Rs 107 in 2021; it currently stands at Rs 360. According to the company, the share price has been increasing for quite some time now.
The company’s turnover was Rs 300 crore in 2021-22 and by 2022-24 it is expected to touch Rs 500 crore, of which it has already reached Rs 400 crore. Founded in 1981 and formerly known as Yash Ltd, the company has been rebranded as Pakka Ltd. It took a turn towards being more environmentally conscious in 2005.
With the popularity that the company has gained after its association with the Ram temple, going ahead, it is now targeting a bigger expansion of Rs 650 crore.
According to Gautam Ghosh, Pakka’s executive director, with announcements of new investments, the company is seeing a surge in its share prices. “And the tie-up with Ram mandir has definitely given leverage to the kind of business we are producing,” he added.
Talking about the Ram temple tie-up, Ghosh told ThePrint, “We provide plastic-free compostable items and have come to a strategic understanding with the Ram temple trustees. All the disposable items to be used in the temple will be acquired from our company and we will be sending them in phases. Right now, we have dispatched 50,000 plates and bowls.”
For prasad Monday, around 10,000 special 350ml container bowls will be supplied to the Ram temple, Ghosh said, adding, “These containers will be used to pack prasad for the dignitaries to take home with them.”
How did the tie-up materialise
The main concern raised during the meeting was the pricing of the plates and bowls. Rai was concerned that the price was quite high compared with other styrofoam plates in the market, Ghosh said.
“But we made him understand that we were charging less than plastic and that our material was eco-friendly. Styrofoam products are not sturdy and are also not good for the environment. Our product — if you trash it, it turns into manure and can be eaten by cows,” said Ghosh.
Once Rai was convinced, he invited Ghosh and his team to display his products to other members of the trust. But getting a green signal to serve prasad at the Ram temple was not easy, Ghosh said. “After a nod from Ram temple trust, we had to pass CM Yogi Adityanath’s test.”
According to Ghosh, during one of his inspections in Ayodhya, CM Yogi happened to have a meal in one of these compostable plates, and that’s how the company got its first order for the Ram temple pran pratishtha.
“After the pran pratishtha, whatever events Ram Mandir is going to have, they are going to use our product,” he added.
But the challenge arose when the trust asked for cutlery items, including spoons and forks. Pakka was not equipped to produce cutlery and that’s when Ghosh tied up with other companies.
“We do not manufacture spoons and forks and the trust wanted cutlery as well. They wanted compostable forks and spoons. So, we assured them that we would provide the entire solution from our end. So, we have tied up with various people, who are now producing cutlery as well,” said Ghosh.
The prasad t is being packed in Pakka’s poster-grade paper, Ghosh said
Ayodhya prepping to be plastic-free
When CM Yogi had a meal in Pakka’s compostable plates, he felt that it blended well with his goal of making Ayodhya single-use plastic-free, Ghosh recalled.
“The real acceptability came from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The CM said he wants Ayodhya to be free of plastic. They don’t want much single-use plastic coming to Ayodhya,” said Ghosh as he displayed a five-container plate to be dispatched to the Ram temple.
Ghosh said that his company was preparing to become a one-stop point for all compostable products in Ayodhya. “January 21 and 22 are the start. Ayodhya is going to get bigger day by day and the trust has a huge role to play. There will be bhandaras, with saints and devotees coming in,” he said.
“We are a sustainable packaging industry who are into food and flexible packaging. We are expecting to install European machines and enter global markets. We are already expanding in Central America,” added Ghosh.
This report has been updated to reflect that the executive director of Pakka is Gautam Ghosh, not Gaurav Ghosh. The error is regretted.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)