BMC withdraws advisory banning Ganesh idols made from PoP in Mumbai
Withdrawing its notice banning idols from Plaster of Paris (PoP), Mumbai’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), on Tuesday allowed idols made by PoP to be dumped in artificial lakes during the upcoming Ganesh festival. This year.
The BMC has made it mandatory for citizens and organizers of various pandals to immerse these idols only in artificial lakes during the Ganesh festival.
However, he also announced that there would be a complete ban on PoP idols in the jurisdiction of BMC during the Ganesh festival in 2023.
Last month, the civic body announced a complete ban on PoP idols in the city ahead of the Ganesh festival.
But, the civic body reversed its earlier decision after a meeting on Monday with the Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samiti, an umbrella body for various Ganesh mandals.
For this year’s Ganeshotsav, which will take place after two years of COVID-19 restrictions, as a “special case” permission has been given to buy and sell PoP idols of Lord Ganesha, the BMC said. in its statement, adding that there will be a “complete ban” from next year.
Stating that it will be mandatory to immerse household idols of Ganesh in PoP in an artificial lake, the BMC has made it mandatory to mention ‘Plaster of Paris’ on these idols so that they can be identified during immersion.
The BMC statement released by Zone 2 Deputy Commissioner Harshad Kale clearly mentioned that there will be a complete ban on PoP idols in the jurisdiction of BMC from Ganesh Festival 2023, adding that it will make it mandatory buying and selling idols made only from the environment. -friendly material, like “shadu clay”, from next year.
Ordering the height of household idols not to exceed two feet, the BMC called on the people to keep the height of idols for public pandals as low as possible during this year’s Ganesh festival.
The civic body added that it will issue online permits to erect Ganpati pandals, through a one-stop system.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) will operate a large number of special buses – around 2,500 – amid growing demand from several Mumbaikars who plan to visit their hometown in Konkan during the Ganesh festival.
The outward journey for the Ganeshotsa will be from August 25-31, while the return trip from Konkan will be from September 5-19. Buses will run from city depots to Kankavli, Malvan, Devgad, Vengurla, among other destinations.
According to official data, more than one lakh commuters are likely to travel by MSRTC special buses to Konkan region this year during the festival.