Mumbai: Mumbai mayor Ritu Tawde graced the 7th FPJ Eco Ganesha Mayor’s Award as the chief guest on Friday. She personally handed over the Mayor’s Choice award, which was chosen by her, to Vishal Ganesh Kondvilkar and family.
The Mayor delivered an inspiring address to a packed audience of green champions, emphasising that the essence of devotion extends far beyond festival days. She thanked the city for its growing eco-consciousness, calling true worship a lifelong commitment to protecting nature.
“This gathering is not merely a formal event, but a heartfelt expression of gratitude toward the faith and environmental awareness of Mumbaikars,” Tawde said. “When Bappa enters our homes, the entire atmosphere changes but how can we harm nature upon his departure when God has blessed us with this beautiful world? Realising that Bappa remains among us and within every element of nature even after visarjan is the true form of worship.”
Connecting historical roots to modern civic duties, the Mayor commended the FPJ for using media and festival traditions to mobilise society. “Lokmanya Tilak famously used newspapers and sarvajanik Ganeshotsav to unite communities against a foreign regime,” she noted. “Seventy-nine years after Independence, our struggle is no longer against a colonial power, but against pollution and climate change. I am glad the FPJ has harnessed those very two mediums to unite citizens for this noble cause.”
Highlighting the BMC’s proactive measures during this year’s Ganesh Chaturthi, the Mayor noted that following the Bombay High Court’s directives for idols up to six feet, the BMC set up around 385 artificial ponds across Mumbai, leading to the eco-friendly immersion of over 1.82 lakh household idols. She also highlighted that the civic body distributed 980 metric tonnes of natural shadu mati (clay) and 25,400 liters of nontoxic paint free of cost to idol makers to accelerate the shift away from Plaster of Paris (PoP).
The Mayor attracted a huge wave of applause from the audience when she announced that over 934 metric tonnes of floral offerings to Ganpati Bappa – collected at immersion sites – are currently being processed into organic fertiliser for public parks across Mumbai, ensuring that “flowers that once adorned the deity now help city gardens bloom”.
She assured that future civic policies will work to lower the price of clay idols, making them accessible to every household.
Tawde praised the success of the ‘Ek Bappa, Ek Jhaad’ (One Idol, One Tree) initiative, calling it an investment in the city's green cover. “When a sapling is planted using the water from an immersed idol, Bappa stays right at home with us in the form of a living plant,” she said.
Extolling the role of housing societies in fostering social cohesion, the Mayor observed how neighbours – who rarely interact in a fast-paced city – came together to craft ecofriendly idols, conduct immersions within their premises, and reuse the water for residential gardens.
Tawde urged Mumbaikars to expand the green movement into round-the-year civic habits, including rainwater harvesting, solar energy adoption and plastic prevention.
“Whether Mumbai is your birthplace or your workplace, it is our collective duty to maintain its prosperity and protect its environment,” she said, adding, “This award is not just a memento, but an official receipt of the duty you have carried out toward Mumbai’s natural heritage. To every participant – even those who did not win today – by choosing clay over PoP, you have already won the hearts of nature and Mumbai’s future generations.”
To get details on exclusive and budget-friendly property deals in Mumbai & surrounding regions, do visit: https://budgetproperties.in/
