Nagpur civic body readies eco-friendly Ganesh idol immersion arrangements
Nagpur Municipal Corporation has set up artificial immersion ponds and other arrangements for an eco-friendly Anant Chaturdashi immersion of Ganesh idols
Ganpati Bappa, who has been enshrined in homes for the last ten to twelve days, will now be bid farewell on Anant Chaturdashi with chants of "Ganpati Bappa Morya, come again next year." Nagpur Municipal Corporation has completed full preparations for this. Under the guidance of Mayor Neeta Thakre, the arrangements for eco-friendly immersion have been made jointly by Deputy Mayor Leela Hathibed, Standing Committee chairperson Shivani Dani Vakhare, ruling party leader Narendra (Balya) Borkar, opposition leader Sanjay Mahakalkar, Municipal Commissioner Dr Vipin, Medical Health special committee chairperson Manisha Atkare, and all zone chairpersons, officers and employees.
Mayor Neeta Thakre inspected the artificial immersion ponds built at Sakkardara lake, Gandhisagar lake, Police Line Takli, Koradi lake, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel ground Kutchi Visa and Naik lake premises on Wednesday (the 23rd). Present during the inspection were Deputy Mayor Leela Hathibed, ruling party leader Narendra Borkar, opposition leader Sanjay Mahakalkar, Commissioner Dr Vipin, Additional Commissioner Ankit, Manisha Atkare, Nehru Nagar zone chairperson Seema Dhomane, Dhantoli zone chairperson Bharti Bunde, AIMIM group leader Shakil Patel, corporators Shailesh Pandey, Pramodsingh Thakur, corporator Varsha Dongre, Rekha Nimje, corporator Sheshrao Gotmare, Deputy Commissioner Rajesh Bhagat, Chief Executive Engineer Leena Upadhye, Chief Sanitary Officer Gajendra Mahalle, Chief Fire Officer Rajendra Uchake, Superintending Engineer Vijay Gurubakshani, Assistant Commissioners Vikas Raybole and Ashok Gharate, Additional Medical Health Officer Narendra Bahirwar, Executive Engineer Rajesh Rathod, Health Officers Anand Khodaskar and Makarand Sangamwar, and other civic officials.
During the inspection, the mayor directed that devotees coming for immersion should face no inconvenience. She also directed that barricading be done at immersion sites, security guards be posted at various points, adequate lighting arrangements be maintained, water be kept ready in the ponds, and swimmers be deployed. Commissioner Dr Vipin directed that disaster search squad personnel and police officers be posted at the immersion sites.
This time, the civic body has made extensive preparations to celebrate Ganeshotsav in a fully eco-friendly manner in Nagpur city. To protect the city's water bodies from pollution and for the sake of environmental conservation, the corporation has built a total of 447 artificial immersion ponds at 225 locations in the city. On the ninth day, 2,286 idols were immersed in 137 artificial ponds built by the corporation at 49 locations, of which 2,124 were clay idols and 162 were POP idols.
The corporation has made separate arrangements for large and small idols. For the immersion of large-sized Ganesh idols, the big lakes at Gorewada, Police Line Takli, Kutchi Visa and Koradi have been kept ready. Besides this, 22 mobile tanks have also been arranged in the city for the convenience of citizens.
To ensure citizens do not have to search for which artificial pond or immersion site is near their home, Nagpur Municipal Corporation has created the website https://ganpati-zone-map.emergent.host and a QR code. Scanning this QR code on a mobile phone will give people complete information about the artificial ponds in their zone, along with Google Maps navigation to reach there. This QR code is also available on the corporation's official website.
As part of the eco-friendly Ganeshotsav, organic manure will be made from the nirmalya collected after immersion. For this, a total of 18 nirmalya raths are in service across the corporation's ten zones, collecting nirmalya respectfully from public Ganesh mandals across the city. All this nirmalya will be taken to the project at Bhandewadi, processed scientifically, and turned into manure. The corporation has issued a toll-free number, 1800 2677 966, for information related to the nirmalya raths.
To keep sanitation in order across the city, one thousand sanitation workers have been deployed on a war footing across the ten zones. The corporation has appealed to the residents of Nagpur to actively participate in this eco-friendly campaign and cooperate with the civic body in keeping the city clean.
