Mumbai: As part of preparations for the upcoming Ganesh festival, the BMC will spend about Rs 7 crore and clean up the Powai lake. Traditionally, residents of the area immerse idols in the lake on the third day of the festival, as part of the Ganesh festival is celebrated for two and a half days. The BMC has undertaken this project in collaboration with IIT (Mumbai) students.
The civic administration has clarified that this cleanliness process does not involve desilting of the lake. The project has been taken up to rid the lake of algae and other plants growing on the surface of the lake. Pallavi Darade, additional municipal commissioner, said, “To ease the immersion process, we are cleaning up the lake on the surface. It will also rid the lake of plants that have roots in the lake bed.” Darade informed the standing committee members, who passed the proposal that BMC will separately take up desilting work after the immersion process is over.
However, MNS has taken objection to the project. MNS corporator Anisha Majgaonkar said, “The administration has not stated the method of cleaning up the lake, whether it is going to be done manually or mechanically. If BMC workers are going to climb into lake water, is the administration aware there are crocodiles in the lake?” Meanwhile, Sandeep Deshpande, MNS leader, asked the administration to clarify how they had mapped the river water to ascertain the cost of removing algae and other plants from it. He slammed the administration for negligence when Darade responded that the BMC had used Google maps to map the lake. Deshpande said, “Such mapping cannot happen with the help of Google maps.”
