Devotees across West Bengal tearfully bade goodbye to their beloved mother goddess Durga as her idols were immersed in ponds, lakes and rivers on Vijayadashami, cranes have been deployed at certain ghats to lift and extricate the remains of idols from the river to avoid pollution. The flowers, levers and metallic weapons were dumped on separate ghats to prevent river pollution,their idols will be immersed in the river.
The state Pollution Control Board in Bihar would conduct a test of the Ganga water to ascertain level of contamination due to immersion of thousands of idols in the city containing toxic synthetic materials and paints.
According to estimates of different environmental groups, around 1,500 idols of Goddess Durga were immersed in the Ganga due to which more than 60,000 kg of toxic material, including thousand kgs of lead and non bio-degradable stuff, were discharged in the river.
The River Ganga is already contaminated due to discharge of city wastes and industrial refuse.
As Durga Puja and Dussehra festivities concluded last weekend, rivers and lakes once again became more polluted following immersion of idols worshipped in puja pandals across cities.
According to non-profit Toxics Link, approximately 100,000 idols are immersed in India’s water bodies each year. With the rise in pollution levels in the rivers,—Impacts of Dussehra Festival on the River Hooghly: A case study—showed that every year at least 15,000 idols of Goddess Durga are immersed in the Hooghly river alone.
In Kolkata, cranes are positioned on a barge and on the river banks to lift out the idols immediately after immersion In Kolkata, cranes are positioned on a barge and on the river banks to lift out the idols immediately after immersion. According to the court guideline, the remains of idols and other debris will have to be removed within 24 hours of immersion. The removed waste will have to be transported to solid waste dumping sites of the local municipalities and it should be used by idol makers for recycling. The removed waste materials are not be incinerated under any circumstance. In these pictures I took picture of few people who were lifting out the idols immediately after immersion on the river Hooghly and the picture of clean river Hooghly after removal of the remains of idols and other debris.
prodiptamaulik 