23 get dna Eco-Ganesha Awards

The dna Eco-Ganesha Awards for 2013 were presented to 23 winners at a well-attended function at the YB Chavan auditorium in south Mumbai on Wednesday. Rajiv Mittal, member-secretary of the Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board (MPCB) gave away the awards.

The month-long campaign, titled “Help the Lord Help the Environment”, focused on encouraging people to make and use eco-friendly idols that do not pollute the waters on immersion. There were related activities like clay moulding and paper-bag making for children. The programme also enlisted communities that organised artificial ponds for the visarjan. This was the fourth year of the campaign.

The top winners of the Big Eco Idea were Winnie Saldanha and Viraj Padte of Malad and Rosebud of Mazagaon.

The ten individual winners were Mriganka Das (Vashi), Dr Vivek K Chaurasia (Borivli), Naresh Atal (Kalyan), Dayanand Chintal (Prabhadevi), Kalpana Jhaveri (Chowpatty), Mangesh Tembulkar (Jogeshwari), Amit Selukar (Goregaon), Anil Banpel (Sion), Dattadri Kothur (Lower Parel) and Prachi Shah (Girgaum).

Ten housing societies were winners in the third category: Shriniwas Society (Mulund West), Runwal Nagar Society (Thane West), New Gokul Garden Society (Kandivli East), Sai Sankul phase 2 (Kalyan West), Bakul Society (Borivli West), Shubh Nirman Society (New Panvel), Reserve Bank of India Colony (Santacruz West), Konkan Rail Vihar Society (Nerul), Vakratunda Palace Society (Bhandup West) and Satsang Society (Mira Road).

In the days after the immersion, dna also co-ordinated a clean-up drive at the major beaches.