environment

Pune Municipal Corporation

the river

Bombay High Court

Immersion Committee

Ghole Road ward officer

Congress

head

Ajay Vaishampayan

executive consultant

Paris

Madhav Jagtap

For citizens who thought they did their bit for theby immersing their Ganpati idols in tanks, the(PMC) evidently had other plans. Hours after thousands of devotees bid their final adieu to lord Ganesha on Thursday night, Mirror caught at least a dozen dumper trucks deployed by PMC, collecting the idols from the tanks and dumping them inNeedless to say, this is a direct violation of the(HC) order issued in 2005, asking municipalities to ensure water bodies were not polluted.Even more intriguing is that theHead andhave washed their hands of the matter.The entire operation was conducted so systematically, that the halogen lamps which otherwise light up the Mutha Ghats were switched off to enable PMC workers to carry out their mission without being noticed. Our lensman also captured PMC officials personally supervising the undertaking, as workers scurried to and fro on the Mutha banks, collecting idols from around fifty water tanks constructed by PMC, and dumping them in Vrudhheshwar Ghat, oppositeBhavan. Initially, they were dumping the idols at Natraj Ghat below the Z Bridge.Milind Deshmukh of the Maharashtra Andhashradha Nirmulan Samiti, which advocates immersion in water tanks to avoid water pollution told Mirror, “If this is indeed the case, we will go to court as it is a clear cut violation of the HC order.”Suneel Joshi, State co-coordinator of Jalabiradari said the act of dumping idols is highly condemnable “PMC has lost all credibility among citizens. Do they think the river is a free dumping space?” he asked.Suresh Jagtap,of PMC’s immersion committee was predictably vague, saying, “We have no option but to empty the water tanks on the seventh day, so people can immerse their idols on Anantchaturdashi as well. Earlier, we used to put these idols in the quarries, but considering people’s sentiments, this option was ruled out.”“I believe Ghole Road ward officials may have put them back in the river, but I need to discuss it with them,” he added., who works asof the committee was more forthright. “There is nothing wrong with immersing idols in the river. However, officials should keep in mind that these idols are revered by thousands of people so care needs to be taken.”Vaishampayan even went on to claim that Plaster ofdoes not harm water sources, but instead clears impurities already present in the water. “Immersion plans were not discussed before this committee at all, as not a single meeting was conducted this year,” was his rather dampening conclusion.Ghole Road ward officersaid, “I need to see the pictures myself before commenting on the matter, though I find it hard to believe such a thing happened.”