During the 10-day Ganeshotsav, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) collected over 50 tons of offerings (wet Nirmalya) from 151 artificial and 22 traditional immersion sites across the city.
The civic body has taken the gathered offerings to the Turbhe waste processing centre where they will be processed into fertilizer, scientifically. This year, separate Nirmalya Kalshas were set up at 22 traditional immersion sites as well as 151 artificial immersion sites.
The NMMC, like every year, will recycle wet offerings such as garlands, flowers, durva, tulas, shami, fruit peels, etc.
The civic body had deployed separate vehicles at each immersion site and collected the offerings in a respectable manner| FPJ Photo
The civic body had deployed separate vehicles at each immersion site and collected the offerings in a respectable manner.
“We collected a total of 50 tons and 330 kgs of wet Nirmalaya or offerings,” said a senior official from the Solid Waste Management department of NMMC.
This year, the festival was celebrated in the backdrop of COVID 19 with guidelines laid down by the state government. In order to prevent crowding at immersion sites, the civic body had increased artificial ponds by 16 to 151. During the four days of immersion, a total of 28,969 idols were immersed at both artificial and traditional ponds of which 13,914 (around 48 percent) were immersed at artificial ponds.
A vehicle used to collect Nirmalya| FPJ Photo
A special portal nmmc.visarjanslots.com was also launched to enable the devotees to immerse idols themselves at their convenience. | FPJ Photo
Similarly, a special portal nmmc.visarjanslots.com was also launched to enable the devotees to immerse idols themselves at their convenience. The initiative received an overwhelming response as a total of 1,174 citizens use the facility. In addition, the preference for immersion in artificial immersion sites has painted an environmentally friendly picture.
Navi Mumbai has, this year, retained the tag of the cleanest city in Maharashtra and was also declared the third cleanest city in India.
Moreover, the NMMC is the only body in the state to achieve the water plus city tag in this year's clean survey. In light of this, hoardings were displayed at all 22 traditional and 151 artificial immersion sites in order to raise more awareness about hygiene.
