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PMC gears up for eco-friendly Ganesh festival
Civic authorities are focusing on making the festival sustainable by building more artificial tanks and ponds for idol immersion
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has urged citizens to celebrate the upcoming Ganesh Festival in an eco-friendly manner and refrain from purchasing plaster of Plaster of Paris (POP) idols which are banned by the government. Moreover, the civic authorities are focusing on making the festival sustainable by building more artificial tanks and ponds for idol immersion as compared to last year. The civic body, in an initiative last year, had collected more than 2.5 lakh Ganesh idols for immersion during the festival.
Now, PMC’s Solid Waste Management department has issued directives in this regard, stating, “As we received a positive response from citizens for environment-friendly Ganesh idol immersion last year, we will follow that up by building additional facilities like artificial tanks at Visarjan Ghats.”
In response to the news, PMC Solid Waste Department chief Asha Raut stated, “As in previous years, the PMC will concentrate on idol and nirmalya collection near the Visarjan ghats. To do so, we will build more tanks than we did last year. We will process the collected nirmalya into manure and distribute it to the farmers.”
Last year, the civic body constructed 359 steel tanks; while this year, a total of 568 tanks will be installed by regional ward offices across the city. As compared to last year, the PMC will build 252 more Ganesh Idol donation centres during the annual festival. The number of Nirmalya containers has also been raised from 206 to 256 and authorities plan to build 42 artificial water tanks near 22 different ghats.
PMC sources said during the Covid-19 pandemic, the civic body had initiated mobile water tanks for immersion, however, the PMC may not opt to continue the facility.
“Mobile water tanks were a makeshift system to facilitate the stringent Covid-19 norms. However, we may not continue with the facility this year,” the official on condition of anonymity said.
Apart from that, the civic body will make elaborate safety arrangements in tandem with the city police, by installing CCTV cameras near all the ghats and the Peth areas during the festival. For better coordination, the Fire department will also make arrangements in company with the PMC.
