"As many as 25,453 idols were immersed in our artificial lakes this year. We are collecting them; they will be immersed in the sea using a boat," said Anand Waghralkar, deputy municipal commissioner and in-charge of immersion activities.
Despite a hue and cry last year over the civic body's artificial ponds being rendered useless, the immersion of Ganpati idols in the same ended up being a farce this year too. With no recycling plan in place, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has begun dumping the over 25,000 idols immersed in various artificial ponds into the sea, which has angered environmentalists.
"As many as 25,453 idols were immersed in our artificial lakes this year. We are collecting them; they will be immersed in the sea using a boat," said Anand Waghralkar, deputy municipal commissioner and in-charge of immersion activities.
This year, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis too had immersed his eco-friendly Ganpati idol in BMC's artificial pond set up inside the mayor's bungalow in Dadar. The BMC had first set up such artificial ponds in 2008, following requests from then mayor Dr Shubha Raul.
While corporators had demanded that the BMC recycle the idols collected from artificial ponds, the plan failed to take off.
"What is the point of creating artificial ponds when the idols are put in the sea the next day? The BMC is cheating the people. It is violating environmental norms. Why then does it ask people to use the artificial ponds?" asked MNS corporator Santosh Dhuri.
Dhuri had set up an artificial pond in Prabhadevi only to find out that the civic body had decided to dump the idols in the sea on Monday.
Last year, the BMC had claimed that it was looking at ways to recycle the material for better use. Most idols are made of plaster of Paris (PoP), while some are made of clay.
Environmentalists pointed out that the best way to recycle the material was to mix it with cement. They warned that dumping PoP idols into the sea would worsen its condition and increase pollution.
"PoP can be used for land-filling or cement-mixing. The crushed PoP can be used for making pots, tiles and sculptures, or any other construction work. Dumping it in the sea will harm the environment. The BMC needs to come up with a solution," said Rakesh Kumar, chief scientist, National Environment Engineering Research Institute.
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