Holy waste!

Jayadev Calamur @NotJDSalinger

Every year, Mumbai witnesses a frenzy of celebrations spread over 10 days of the Ganesha Chaturthi festival. Close to 3,00,000 idols are worshipped in households and at community pandals. Thereafter, they are immersed in the city’s lakes and the sea. Along with the idols, holy waste called nirmalya is also immersed. This includes flowers, natural and synthetic decoration material and other religious offerings. Consequently, the city’s beaches and water bodies, never entirely clean, are further polluted every year. Needless to say, this is a major health hazard and a civic nightmare for the municipal authorities.

A community initiative

For the past five years, United Way Mumbai has been working to spread awareness about not dumping holy waste in the city’s waters and encouraging pandals to use smaller idols. "Not everyone is ready to use smaller idols, but they are more than happy to clean up the nirmalya and ensure that only the idols, and not the holy waste, enter the water," said Anil Parmar, Senior Manager, Community Investment at United Way Mumbai. The NGO’s campaign, titled Greenesha or Green Ganesha, aims to transform the way in which we celebrate this festival and make it environmentally friendly. The campaign is a unique, high-impact community engagement initiative led by Mumbai’s college students during the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.

Plans for 2016

In the past, the NGO has, amongst other things, built a citizen movement for an environmentally-friendly Ganesha Chaturthi celebration. They have also been in touch with colleges for seeking volunteers during the celebrations. "We usually approach colleges that are located near beaches and have an active National Service Scheme (NSS) team," added Parmar.

This year, the group is also working towards garnering the support of the Ganesha mandals for waste segregation. "We also have plans to set up and run a waste treatment facility for converting the collected nirmalya into organic manure," said Parmar.

jayadev.calamur@dnaindia.net