Idol immersion: Lakes at the mercy of Ganesha

Idol immersion: Lakes at the mercy of Ganesha
Deccan Herald

Do you have any idea of the extent of damage to lakes when you immerse freshly painted Ganesha idols? Or better still, are you under the impression that if you immerse a tiny Ganesha, you are not harming the water body?

After watching a good number of lakes getting polluted, three Bangaloreans - Harish R Bhat of Indian Institute of Science, Manjunath P and Pramod Subbarao of voluntary organisations Greencross and Prathishtana respectively, decided to study the pollution level in Sankey Tank after the immersion of Ganesh idols. They chose September 2, the third day of the festival last year, between 7pm and 7:30 pm to conduct their study.

They found that in just 30 minutes, 880 idols were immersed in the Kalyanis of Sankey Tank.

Out of which 400 were small-sized idols (less than 2 feet), 320 were medium-sized idols (between 2 and 4 feet) and 160 were large-sized idols (above 4 feet).

Spurt in sale

A series of interviews on September 12, 2004 with the makers and vendors of Ganesh idols from localities in Bangalore like Pottery Town, Kumbarpete (Near Majestic), Magadi, Yehalanka and Nagavara has revealed that nearly 5,51,000 idols were made and sold in the market.

When Deccan Herald spoke to Harish Bhatt, he said the numbers were only likely to go up this year, as most of the idol makers admitted that the demand for Ganeshas’ were going up each year by at least 10 per cent.

For example, in Kumbarpete, it was found that about 8 families were engaged in making Ganesha idols and that they cater to nearly 20 per cent of the demand for idols.

From this area alone, nearly 1,20,000 idols are being churned out.

When asked about the extent of damage, Mr Bhat said the rise in Chromium level found in Kalyani on September 22 was 1.3 milligram/litre, as against the permissible limit of 0.5 mg/litre, which, he said, could be disastrous to the fish.

“Though civic authorities have taken steps to construct Kalyanis, a small crack in them can have disastrous consequences. It will inevitably lead to necrosis or decay among fish and other organisms,” he said.