Over 36,000 Ganapati and Gouri idols were immersed in water bodies at different locations in Mumbai on Thursday on the sixth day of the 10-day-long Ganeshotsav festival.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 36,091 idols were immersed till 12 midnight. Of the 36,091 idols, 546 were from sarvajanik Ganpati mandals, 31,685 were gharguti (home) Ganpati and 3860 Gouri idols. Of these, 355 sarvjanik Ganpati idols, 16,687 idols from homes and 2035 Gouri idols were immersed in artificial lakes/ponds. No untoward incident/s were reported during immersion, said the BMC.
Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the civic body has appealed to citizens to celebrate the festival without fanfare and by following protocols and guidelines put in place by it to avoid overcrowding and curb the spread of the infection. It has urged citizens to do immersion of Ganapati idols at home or in artificial ponds.
On August 26, 12,918 idols immersed till 9 pm, 296 were installed by mandals (community organisations), while the remaining 12,622 were domestic Ganapati idols. The BMC had said that out of the 12,918 idols, immersion of 7,283 was done in artificial ponds built by the civic body at different locations in the city.
Civic wards across Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) had requested mandals and citizens to reserve a slot online for visarjan. The civic body has introduced a website (shreeganeshvisarjan.com) where one can reserve a slot for visarjan. BMC said citizens can carry out immersions at 70 natural and 170 artificial ponds across the city by maintaining social distancing and hygiene norms. The list of the ponds is available on BMC’s website (http://stopcoronavirus.mcgm.gov.in/ganesh-visarjan-locations).
