Ganesh Chaturthi 2018: Immersion Begins, So Does Pollution

Immersion of idols of Lord Ganesh commenced on Friday and so did the pollution in the twin-city of Mira Bhayandar. However, the condition of the water bodies paint a sorry picture of utter neglect and lack of awareness measures initiated by the civic administration towards the promotion of eco-friendly practices to check water pollution.

Apart from just one artificial pond arranged by the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) at Shivar Garden in Mira Road, there are 22 immersion points in the twin-city. While immersions for the one-and-a-half days of the start of the festival and third day have been conducted, Now the immersions will take place on the fifth, seventh and finally, the tenth day. However, most of the government and judicial guidelines regarding safe and environment friendly immersions — use of environment-friendly clay and natural colours in idols, immersion in artificial tanks and so on have continued to remain on paper.

Though, civic bodies have to be answerable for proper implementation of guidelines, there are no penal provisions for municipalities failing in implementation. Environmentalists are upset over the lack of proper arrangements of the mandated ‘Nirmalya Kalash’ (giant urns for flower offerings) which further added to the woes. However, the civic administration maintained that all arrangements were in place. Moreover, the idea of “ Jal Abhishek” — an unique environment friendly technology which involves mixing of ammonium bi-carbonate (baking powder) with water to dissolve idols made of Plaster of Paris, has been dropped this year.