Artificial ponds, idol collection centres a hit on 1st visarjan day

15th September, 2018

THANE : Over 12,000 Ganesh idols were immersed till late Friday evening during a peaceful and well-supervised procession at visarjan ghats across the lake city.Artificial ponds,idol collection centres that have been set up by the civic body across the city were a big hit among residents.

“An accurate number of idols will be available only by late night,” said an official who was tabulating the data of immersions.

Out of nearly 50,000 household Ganesh idols that are there in the city, approximately 14,000 will be immersed by the end of Friday.

The old city and Wagle Estate area alone would witnessed nearly 5,600 immersions by the end of the day, while the immersion points at adjoining Kalwa, Mumbra and Ghodbunder areas would witness around 8,400 idols till Saturday early morning.

TMC officials said that the response to artificial ponds was encouraging this year as devotees prefer to immerse their idols here rather than using natural water bodies. The civic body had created artificial ponds at various parts in the city, including Upvan, Railadevi, Ambeghosale lake, Nilkanth woods, Balkum Rewale and Kharegaon. This was done to minimise the damage to natural water bodies.

The TMC said that adequate measures were being taken to keep the artificial tanks clean and also to ensure that the water in these ponds was purified at regular intervals.

Besides, idol donation centres have also been functional at various spots in the city where hundreds of devotees were seen handing over idols instead of immersing them in ponds. “We will collect the idols and immerse them together inside the creek where the force of water is more,” said an official.

Meanwhile, the regular immersion spots for small idols and those beyond five-feet at Parsik Retibunder, Kolshet and Kopri also witnessed a huge rush of devotees on the first visarjan day.

The TMC and city police said that they have deputed adequate staff at various chronic spots to ensure free flow of traffic during the festive season and also ensure safety of the devotees. The civic officials also deployed adequate staff along with CCTV cover to ensure safety in the CCTV.

There are nearly 50,000 household Ganesh idols within the city; of which 14,000 were immersed on the second day of the festival itself. The old city and Wagle Estate area alone would witnessed nearly 5,600 immersions by the end of the day, while the immersion points at adjoining Kalwa, Mumbra and Ghodbunder areas would witness around 8,400 idols being brought in for the visarjan till Saturday early morning. Meanwhile, regular immersion spots also witnessed a huge rush of devotees on the first visarjan day

 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com