Three tonnes of nirmalya collected from Godavari

NASHIK: The Panchavati division of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) on Thursday collected three tonnes of ‘nirmalya’ (puja material) from the banks Godavari river after the Chhath Puja celebrations came to an end.
“We had engaged 33 sanitary employees on the riverbanks for the clean-up act. The waste we collected will be used as compost,” said Sanjay Gosavi, the sanitary inspector of the Panchavati division.
The four-day festival of Chhath Puja includes rituals such as fasting with prayers and offerings to the Sun god. Puja material included flowers, baskets, cloth pieces, fruits, vegetables and coconuts that are set afloat in the river as an offering to the Sun god.
Environment activists have written to the civic body’s health department to arrange artificial ponds, like the ones arranged for the immersion of Ganesh idols, for Chhath Puja from next year.
“The civic body should also request the devotees to dip the materials in the river as a ritual. And instead of setting them afloat, they can hand it over to the NMC or donate it,” said Jasmeet Sehmi, a city-based environment activist.
Kuldeep Kaur, another environment activist, said the river gets polluted because of oil and other material used for the rituals. “If this can be prevented in some way, it will be good. We do not want to hurt the religious sentiment of people though,” said.
People who have filed public interest litigations in the Bombay high court against government officials holding them responsible for the river pollution said that a big awareness campaigns is needed to deal with the issue.