Mumbai is lacking its usual buzz that is seen during the Ganeshotsave due to the coronavirus outbreak. To avoid overcrowding during the festival the BMC had urged people to keep the celebrations in a simple manner. The civic body has also urged people to perform immersion (visarjan) in the artificial ponds that have been created.
People have also responded to the request made by BMC and as a result immersion in artificial ponds has increased by 57.76 per cent. The celebrations are also very subdued this year. The pandals are missing and so are the processions. There is also lesser traffic on the Mumbai roads
On August 23, nearly 31,255 Ganesh idols were immersed by an evening around 6:00 PM. Of these idols, 4,222 idols were immersed in the artificial lakes and ponds created by the BMC. In total, 621 public and 30,634 domestic idols were immersed. The BMC had made adequate arrangements for Ganpati Visarjan.
The Ganesh Visarjan will go on till September 1 and the civic body has been entrusted with the responsibility to create artificial ponds in 24 division of Mumbai. There are about 300 artificial ponds and lakes that have been created for this 10-day festival. In order to avoid crowd control at Dadar, Girgaon, Bandra, Khar, Versova and other beaches, artificial ponds and lakes were constructed within the boundaries of each division.BMC has appreciated the proactiveness of the citizens and also appreciated that they are celebrating the festival keeping all precautions in mind.
Officials have also planned mobile artificial lakes. The number of artificial ponds has increased in comparison to the 34 ponds last year, which was used for the Visarjan of around 33,000 domestic Ganpati idols and 800 Gauri idols.
Last year, on September 3, 2019, a total of 61,930 idols of Lord Ganesha were immersed which included 61,729 household idols and 201 public (sarvajanik) idols. Of these, the number of idols immersed in the artificial lake was a mere 14,490 last year.
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