Ahead of the final immersion day of the ongoing Ganeshotsav, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) claims to have deployed more than 25,000 workers at city beaches to avoid any untoward incident. Sunday (September 19) will be observed as Anant Chaturdashi and will mark the last day of the 10-day festival.
The BMC on Friday said 338 Nirmalya Kalash have been set up at city beaches and 182 vans from the solid waste management department will be deployed for picking up the flowers.
As a precautionary measure, the civic body has set up 3,707 flood lights, 116 search lights, 48 observation towers, 36 motor boats and 30 rafts at the natural immersion sites. The BMC said a total of 715 lifeguards will be kept on standby on Sunday.
In several BMC wards like D-Ward (Girgaon, Malabar Hill), K-West (Juhu) and T-Ward (Mulund), the BMC officials have introduced an online link for devotees to book their preferred time slots for immersion. Senior officials said for residents of these wards, online booking would be mandatory.
“We have started online slot booking to make sure distancing rules are followed and there is no over-crowding. On the last day, there will be huge crowds at the beach. So we have appealed to everyone to register themselves before going to the beach,” said a senior official.
Officials also maintained that over the past one week Mumbaikars have been preferring artificial lakes over natural water bodies. The BMC had set up 173 artificial lakes in all the 24 municipal wards. Besides, there are 73 natural immersion sites, too, in Mumbai. “The mobile app also helps devotees track the exact location of the artificial lakes,” said assistant municipal commissioner Prashant Gaikwad.
