More and more people in the twin-city are adopting environment-friendly measures for the Lord Ganesh festival, be it for idols or immersions. Not only families but also sarvajanik (public) mandals are opting for eco-friendly idols and immersing them in artificial ponds created by the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC). As many as 5,799 idols including 5,584 of the loving Elephant-headed God and 215 idols of Goddess Gowri made their way into natural lakes, seas and artificial ponds in the twin-city on the fifth day (Tuesday).
With 1,429 immersions, the four artificial ponds created by the civic administration received an encouraging response as devotees opted for the eco-friendly route to immerse the idols. In order to encourage more people to use artificial ponds which would automatically keep a check on the unabated pollution of natural water bodies, municipal commissioner- Dilip Dhole had not only directed civic officials to give priority for Lord Ganesh devotees opting for eco-friendly immersions but also presented them with a token of appreciation in the form of a certificate.
“Promoting artificial ponds is an extremely encouraging and much needed step by the civic administration.” said corporator- Arvind Shetty who has been encouraging the idea of eco-friendly immersions. “The response is really encouraging and we will soon roll out an awareness campaign aimed at promoting eco-friendly initiatives during festivals to put an end to pollution of our natural water bodies.” said Dhole.
Notably, 547 eco-friendly immersions were recorded on the second day of the festivities taking the total number of idols immersed in artificial ponds to 1976.
