With just month remaining for the state festival - Ganeshotsav, the authorities are busy taking steps towards enviornment-friendly celebrations. For Mumbai, the BMC for the first time has appointed agency dedicated for public awareness on eco-friendly Ganpati celebrations.
"The agency will focus on soft publications, like social media posts, appointment ambassadors, newspaper ads and other sources of medium only for encouragement on celebrating festivals in enviornment friendly way as much as possible. It will work for upcoming Ganpati festival, Navratri and Maghi Ganesh festival as well," an official from BMC PR department said.
The Bombay High court last week passed the judgement that manufacture and sale of Plaster of Paris (POP) is allowed, however immersion of idols below six feet has to be only in artificial ponds installed by the civic bodies. POP idols above six feet can be immersed in the natural water bodies (sea, rivers, lakes). The state government said that the remains of the POP idols will be retrieved from the sea the very next day and a committee will ensure scientific disposal of the materials.
Accordingly, to ensure scientific disposal of the remains of the POP Ganpati idols, the Environment Department of the BMC had floated tenders to appoint a consultant to guide on environment-friendly immersion, however failed to get any response. "Following, this the Solid Waste Management (SWM) department will continue to retrieve, transport and dispose off the materials the next day of the visarjan and will also appointed consultant for guidance," an official from civic environment department said.
Activist Rohit Joshi, who had filed the PIL to ban the usage of POP idols, said, "The state government has not clarified how it will ensure scientific disposal of POP idols as well as water from the artificial ponds. There are no answers on surveillance and accountability."
However, the Ganpati mandals have welcomed the move by authorities. "This is the step towards enviornment-friendly celebrations. It will take time but we welcome that the BMC has started taking it seriously. It will ensure devotees are not disappointed and court orders are also followed," said Naresh Dahibhavkar, president of Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganpati mandal samiti.
