Mumbai: 550 tonnes of ‘nirmalya’, 360 tonnes of solid waste cleared from Ganpati immersion sites

Mumbai, Sep 18 (PTI) As the 10-day Ganesh festival concluded, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has cleared more than 900 tonnes of ‘nirmalya’ (floral and other offerings) and solid waste from immersion sites across the city.

The BMC said in a release on Wednesday that it launched a cleanliness drive at all beaches, lakes and artificial water bodies created for immersion of Ganpati idols to make the spots available to citizens who go there for morning walks.

As many as 7,000 civic employees, school and college students and volunteers from NGOs collected 363 metric tonnes of solid waste, including wrappers and bottles, it said.

Over the past two days, the release said, 550 metric tonnes of nirmalya were collected from the Ganpati idol immersion sites. These offerings would be composted, which will take about a month and a half, it said.

Over 10 days, thousands of idols were immersed across the city in 204 artificial ponds and 69 natural water bodies, including lakes and the ones off the beaches.

The artificial ponds were created as part of BMC’s efforts to encourage citizens to celebrate the Ganesh festival in an eco-friendly manner, the release said.

BMC said it had provided 500 ‘nirmalya kalash’ (containers) and pressed over 6,000 people and 350 vehicles for the collection and transportation of these offerings.

Meanwhile, the civic body’s licence department pulled down 14,370 banners, boards, makeshift gates and placards that had been put up during or ahead of the festival across the city. The operation started around 12.30 am on Wednesday and continued for about 18 hours, it said.

According to the release, these included 7,715 regular and 807 political banners. PTI KK NR