Dahisar resident Dr Gautam Trehan immersed his eco-friendly mud idol of Lord Ganesha in an artificial pond at the Dahisar Sports Club this year for the very first time. "Earlier, we did not have a choice. We had to buy a plaster of Paris idol and immerse it in a natural pond nearby. We felt bad about the pollution we caused. Now, many of my neighbours have joined in and I see a huge shift in the mindset. The crowds at the artificial pond have definitely increased," he said.
The artificial pond near Rajesh Khanna garden in Khar has already broken its record of immersions since last year, claims Anandini Thakoor, managing trustee of the Khar Residents Association, who organises immersions at the site. "Last year, we had 200 immersions, this year we have had more than 150 immersions per day!" she said.
Artificial ponds around the city are being built on a temporary basis just for Ganpati Visarjan. These are filled up after the immersion process is over. "For one and half day Ganpati, out of the total number of 66,818 idols, some 8,728 idols were immersed in the artificial pond last year. The numbers are going to increase. We will fill up the ponds after the festival and make bricks out the remnants," said Vijay Khabale, PRO of BMC.
To facilitate the growing number of artificial pond immersions, more have been constructed. "Last year, there were around 24 artificial ponds and now we have 26. They are situated mostly in the interiors and a few near playgrounds or recreational grounds. They are made specially for Ganpati Visarjan and help protect the environment. Some mandals asked us to make these ponds permanent but we refused because they might be used for wrong purposes," said SVR Srinivas, additional municipal commissioner, BMC.
Nalini Pakhle, 47, stopped going to the beach seven years ago because her Ganesh idol's finger was broken due to the rush. After five days, she went with her friend to immerse another idol and saw separated body parts of the idols strewn around the beach. "It was painful to see people walking over the idols. My husband had lost his vision in an accident and my kids were young. It was very difficult for me. I decided to pray to my own brass Ganpati. I immerse my idol in a water drum outside my house and immerse the coconut and areca nuts (Supari) in the artificial pond at Bhattwadi, Ghatkopar which was made three years ago. Earlier, I went to Powai lake or Kurla lake, but this is at a walking distance for me," said Pakhle who uses the drum water for cleaning purposes later on.
Amanpreet Nagpal, a resident of Lokhandwala, has been going to the artificial pond near Joggers park to immerse her idol since the past 2 years. "The pond is a blessing. We used to go to Versova beach earlier but this is cleaner and more eco-friendly. The municipality cleans it on a regular basis," she said.
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