They strive to keep Pune’s rivers clean

Even as the city celebrates Ganeshotsav with gaiety, a team of enthusiasts from corporates and social organisations have come forward to ensure the festival is environment-friendly. For this, they will work at 18 ghats in Pune during immersion days, so that nirmalya or the immersed Ganesh idols do not pollute the rivers
flowing through the city.

NGO SWaCH, with participation from Cummins India Limited and Emcure Pharmaceuticals, has set a target of collecting 70 tonnes of nirmalya (the garlands, flowers and durvas), which otherwise flows into the river during visarjan. Nearly 700 employees of Cummins will participate in various programmes to prevent
pollution in water bodies.

Joining these efforts in Pimpri-Chinchwad is a group of 90 people from Sanskar Pratishthan, which will collect nirmalya and idols so that they are not immersed in the river.

During the festival too, these organisations will be sensitising people regarding river pollution and encouraging people to immerse idols in tanks provided by civic authorities. 

Last year, the SWaCH initiative had resulted in collecting 35 tonnes of nirmalya from Mutha river at various ghats. This year, they plan to ensure that idols are immersed only in the tanks built by Pune Municipal Corporation. College students will also be part of this initiative.

SWaCH will also collect and recycle the waste through the support of around 180 waste-pickers, supervisors and ward coordinators as well as area coordinators. All the recyclable material would be sorted and segregated, so that flowers and fruits can be used for making compost.

Vishnu Shrimangale, coordinator for SWaCH informed DNA that Cummins India Limited would be deploying about 12 volunteers at all the 18 Ghats, while Emcure Pharmaceuticals would have in all 30 volunteers.

He added, “About 40 students from Fergusson College would be part of this initiative for which even Government Catering College at Shivajinagar is sending its NSS students. Fergusson College students would be deployed at Baba Bhide
Bridge ghat for the immersion of Gauri Ganpati on the fifth day, which falls on Sunday and during the final immersion day for sarvajanik Ganeshotsav, which is on September 29.

Talking to DNA, S Ravichandran, head of  Corporate Responsibility, Cummins Group in India, said, “Nearly 3,500 man hours are being devoted to  this activity as also for spreading awareness. Last year, we ensured about 26 tonnes of Ganesh idols were immersed in tanks and also prevented three tonnes of nirmalya from being thrown into the rivers."