40% of Mumbai’s Ganesh idols immersed in artificial ponds on Day 5 of festival

The BMC has been encouraging devotees to use artificial ponds for immersions, as an eco-friendly approach to the festival.

The Mumbai police like every year have undertaken all out operations to crack down on anti-social elements, combing operations in hotels and guest houses and putting up nakabandis to check the vehicles carrying suspicious materials. (File)

About 40 per cent of immersions of Ganesh idols Sunday, the fifth day of the Ganesh Festival, took place at artificial immersion sites set up by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). According to data from the civic body, Mumbai recorded 31,365 immersions Sunday, of which 12,423 took place at artificial ponds.

Of the total immersions that took place on Sunday, 892 were from community mandals and 377 of them chose immersion in artificial ponds; 30,446 were household idols of which 12,030 were immersed in artificial ponds, and 27 were Gauri idols of which 16 were immersed in artificial ponds.

Immersions took place till about 6 am on Monday, the BMC said. The BMC has been encouraging devotees to use artificial ponds for immersions, as an eco-friendly approach to the festival. On Monday, the civic body will begin cleaning the artificial ponds.

Story continues below this ad

A senior civic official in charge of handling the logistics of the Ganesh festival said, “The paint and colour on Ganesh idols are chemical based. Once the idols are immersed in artificial ponds, we wait for the paint to wear out. The eco-friendly idols made from mud or clay-base melt in the water faster. The Plaster of Paris (POP) idols take longer to melt, and we wait it out.”

The BMC has directed all ward officers to discharge the water from the artificial ponds onto the nearest playgrounds which have no vegetation, or in any barren open space, the official quoted above said.

An assistant commissioner said, “We later separate the POP idols and wait until these have melted and are no longer in the shape of the deity. Then they are removed. We have been exploring options for processing the POP left behind.”

Last Thursday, marking one-and-a-half days of the festival, 41,277 idols were immersed, of which 24,567 were immersed in artificial ponds. There are 152 such artificial ponds across Mumbai.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram