Mumbai is always buzzing with festivities of Ganesh Chaturthi. Bright idols of Lord Ganesha can be seen during processions, decked up in various markets as people and celebrities alike get ready for one of the most auspicious occasions of the year.

The city never stops and perhaps, the waste that is left behind on beaches is never ending as well. Every year during ‘Ganpati Visarjan’, the residents of Mumbai leave behind millions of milk dairy packets, remains of coconut and other prayer material on the beaches.

Photo: Chinu Kwatra

Photo: Chinu Kwatra

Immersion of idols of Lord Ganesha not only pollutes the sea but also causes heavy damage to the aquatic life. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) along with Non-Governmental organizations have been struggling to deal with this menace over the years.

On the seventh day of the festival this year, immersion of idols created havoc as thousands of dead turtles and fishes washed ashore on Dadar and Juhu beaches. The reason behind this mass death of marine animals is due to the Plaster Of Paris (PoP) that is used in preparing the idols, the lead in their paints and the nirmalya (flower offerings) that are immersed, notes the Mumbai Mirror.

Photo: Chinu Kwatra

Excess chemicals have not only washed away the aquatic life but broken idols of Lord Ganesha can also be seen on the shore after some time, which is a miserable sight for the devotees to behold.

Chinu Kwatra who made headlines this year for cleaning the Dadar beach started ‘Save The Beach’ campaign when he saw the sorry state of Mumbai beaches post the Visarjan ceremony.

On 14th September, the young army worked hard to scan the beaches, collecting broken pieces of the idols with utmost care and later handing them over to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, the logical Indian reported.

Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, Kwatra said that water snakes and fish had died due to the toxic chemicals that were present inside the PoP idols, as well as the overload of bacteria that resulted due to the immersion of flowers, prasad and other offerings into the sea.

Photo: BCCL

He went onto say that the paint on the idols contains chromium, lead, aluminium and copper, which dissolve and turn into toxic compounds in water. This damages the gills of the fish, the most important organ from which the fishes breathe.

On Friday, Kwatra and other volunteers who have designated themselves as “beach warriors” picked up around 95 such idols that were thrown away on the Dadar beach. They were returned to the BMC to turn them into chalk.

All the volunteers and other warriors who had washed tonnes of garbage from the Dadar beach were in for disappointment as the beach had gone back to being full of squalor and dirt.

Photo: Chinu Kwatra

“The Biological Oxygen Demand and Chemical Oxygen Demand determine if marine life will survive. Untreated sewage water let into the sea is also adding to the pollution. On top of that, PoP idols spell doom for all marine life and water bodies.” said Stalin D, director of the NGO Vanashakti to MM.

While the marine life is already bearing the brunt of Ganpati Visarjan, the eleventh day of this festival usually witnesses the highest number of immersions. Large amounts of plastic and prayer material is expected to be left behind by the devotees who have contributed little to save the nature and marine life.