During this year’s Ganeshotsav, 60 per cent of idols were immersed in the tanks made by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in order to save the rivers getting polluted. However, it has been observed that all the residual sludge from these tanks was finally released into the river and the whole idea of tank immersion has been defeated. Now, PMC looks helpless.
These findings are part of a sample survey of Sarvajanik Ganesh mandals in the city conducted by Sustainability Initiatives, a non-profit organisation. It also conducted an online survey to get people’s take on the impact of Ganeshotsav.
After the survey, they observed that 3.6 lakh idols were immersed this year by the various households and mandals, and out of them 60 per cent idols were immersed into the artificial tanks created by PMC at various places in the city said one of the Sustainability Initiatives. They said that compared to last year, there is an increase in the immersion of idols in tanks by 7 per cent. However, the residual sludge from the immersion tanks was eventually released into the river which actually defeated the basic purpose of tank immersion, which is to stop pollution of rivers. The PMC should find a way to collect sludge from immersion tanks and send it to treatment plants.
The study showed that not all the waste that is generated during these 10 days is collected by PMC. After the processions, the mandals had dumped the flowers and decorations of their mandals in the riverbeds and it lay on the riversides for several days.
During the 10-day festival, around 400 tonnes extra waste than average was collected and about 500 tonnes of nirmalya was collected by PMC and the SwaCh (Solid Waste Collection and Handling). The study shows that 43 per cent of Ganesh mandals used reusable decoration material like rented fibre sets, lighting effects and plywoods than thermocol, plastics and paints.
source: dnaindia
