On Tuesday, dna had reported that without any recycling plan in place, the BMC has started dumping over 25,000 idols that were immersed in various artificial ponds back into the sea.
City environmentalists and marine experts have slammed the state government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for not tackling the issue of Plaster of Paris (PoP) Ganesha idols effectively, despite court diktats and the civic body's plan to immerse the PoP idols in artificial ponds instead of the sea.
On Tuesday, dna had reported that without any recycling plan in place, the BMC has started dumping over 25,000 idols that were immersed in various artificial ponds back into the sea. Calling the move foolish, naturalist and biologist Anand Pendharkar said that already Mumbai's coast was highly polluted due to several PoP idols being immersed on the beach fronts.
"The west coast is shallow, due to which light percolates to a good distance, giving rise to a rich flora and fauna. The coast is home to several variety of fish, including dolphin and whale, and even the beautiful corals. But the PoP debris causes severe harm to all of that. The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court had imposed a permanent ban on the use of PoP to make idols. I am surprised that the order was not followed," said Pendharkar.
Echoing the sentiment, former principal scientist at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Dr Vinay Deshmukh, said the move defeated the entire purpose of constructing artificial ponds. "The PoP debris has to be recycled and should not be dumped in the sea at any cost, as PoP forms a sludge after settling down on the sea bed and forms an impermeable layer making decomposition of any organic matter on the bottom extremely difficult. It also releases toxic chemicals that affect the marine organisms," he said.
When contacted, Anand Waghralkar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner and in-charge of immersion activities, said, "Nearly 25,453 idols were immersed in artificial lakes this year. We are collecting them and they will be immersed in the sea using a boat. The plan to recycle them did not take off."
Meanwhile, to help the cause, city-based singer Divya Lewis has started a signature petition, addressing Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi. Lewis is asking that from 2016, it should be made mandatory for all Ganesha idols to be made of only eco-friendly material.
"I am aware that many people's livelihood is based on selling hand-made idols. The government should provide eco-friendly material to these vendors. If your concern isn't for our environment then at least do it for your kids, and their kids after them. Polluting our ocean and marine life will only poison us, as it is our source of water and food," stated the petition.
Former mayor Shubha Raul, who was first to proffer the idea of Ganesh immersion in artificial ponds during her tenure in 2008, said there indeed was a need to ban PoP idols, and that steps in this direction must be taken by the state and central governments, as well as BMC.
"Forget PoP, ideally even clay idols should not be immersed in the sea. In my constituency Borivli, for the last eight years, almost 90 per cent people have given up PoP idols. From this year, we have started requesting them to practise no immersion at all," she said.
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