Nashik, Oct 5
Before the Visarjan, the Nashik Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) Deputy Collector of Environment Department, Vijaykumar Munde said that the idols of Plaster of Paris or Shadu clay should be immersed in artificial ponds instead of rivers, else, cases would be filed against them. However, now he has revealed that no cases have been filed yet by the civic body. Notably, on September 28, Lokmat Times had published the news ‘NMC to file cases if idols are immersed in the river'. However, six drowning cases were registered in the city, reportedly during Ganesh Visarjan.
The Municipal Corporation made tremendous efforts to avert idol Visarjan in rivers. However, the number of people immersing idols in rivers was significant, especially at the Goda Ghat and banks of Waldevi river. There were 27 natural sites and 56 artificial ponds for the Visarjan. Despite all this, the civic body could not avert idol Visarjan in the rivers.
In order to protect the environment and prevent water pollution in the rivers, the Municipal Corporation's appeal to donate the Ganesh idols after a formal Visarjan ritual and collect Nirmalya received an enthusiastic response from the citizens. The civic body collected 2,00,253 idols at various places within the jurisdiction of six administrative divisions.
Moreover, 953.5 kilograms of Ammonium Bicarbonate powder was distributed to the citizens to perform Visarjan at home. Last year, a total of 20,600 Ganesh idols and 144 tonnes of Nirmalya had been collected. But this year, the citizens responded enthusiastically to the Municipal Corporation’s efforts to celebrate Ganeshotsav in an environment-friendly manner and installed a large number of Shadu clay idols and immersed them at home.
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After Lokmat Times published a news report on August 26, with regard to a written undertaking being taken by the NMC from idol sellers that they would not sell idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP) in the city, the NMC made it mandatory for idol makers and sellers within the jurisdiction of the civic body to register online and furnish information about the stocks of idols at their places. The union government has announced a ban on PoP idols to prevent rivers from getting polluted. This ban has also been upheld by the High Court. NMC too has banned PoP idols in line with this directive. Accordingly, the manufacturers, stockists, or sellers of PoP and Shadu clay idols in open spaces or blocks in the city were required to register on the NMC’s website https://nmcfest.nmc.gov.in. The data in this regard has not been provided by the NMC yet. There were directives of the High Court as well as the guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to celebrate Ganeshotsav in an eco-friendly manner.