There is a drop in the number of devotees opting for artificial ponds for the immersion of Ganpati idols under the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC). While last year, around 49 percent of devotees opted for artificial ponds, this year it has come down to around 40 percent.
Since the Ganpati festival is celebrated without any major restrictions, many devotees are choosing natural ponds for idol immersions.
The civic body has created 134 artificial ponds across the city, apart from 22 natural ponds. Since the civic body lifted many of the restrictions, including the height of the idol and idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP), many Ganpati mandals and households installed bigger idols that can be easily immersed in artificial ponds.
As per the data provided by NMMC, till the sixth-day immersion, a total of 37,452 idols were immersed, of which 15,075 idols, or 40 percent, were immersed in the artificial ponds on one and a half, five, six, seven, and Anant Chaturdashi with Gauri.
