Maharashtra / Immerse Ganesh idol in a bucket: BMC to people amid COVID-19

Mumbai: As the city braces up for the first day of immersion for Ganeshotsav on Sunday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has advised citizens celebrating at home to carry out immersion at their homes in a bucket or drums.

The BMC has also banned any type of procession for immersion and has given an option to conduct immersion at 70 natural and 170 artificial spots in the city by following social distancing and hygiene norms. Every year, on the first day of the celebrations, over 35,000 idol immersions are conducted in the city. In 2019, more than 46,000 idols were immersed on the first day.

The BMC has uploaded the list of natural and artificial ponds on its website for the purpose of immersion.

In case of 70 natural immersion spots, that also includes the sea, citizens or devotees residing within 2-kilometre radius of these spots will be allowed to immerse their idols by handing them over to the BMC. The citizens or devotees shall not be allowed to enter the water under any circumstances, the BMC said in its advisory.

The advisory states, “Devotees who are celebrating Ganesh Festival in their homes are advised to carry out idol immersion of the Ganesh idols at their homes in a bucket or a drum as their first preference.”

The BMC has also asked mandals and those celebrating from home and residing in containment zone or sealed buildings to either defer immersion for next year or make arrangements on their own using buckets or drums.

The advisory issued by the BMC in this context reads, “The Ganeshotsav Mandals, as well as citizens situated in Containment Zones, shall immerse their Ganesh idols by creating necessary arrangement in the mandap/pandol and their homes itself. Alternatively, they can defer the immersion of the idols to the next year. Devotees who are staying in Sealed Buildings shall mandatorily immerse their Ganesh idols in their homes itself (in bucket/ small drums) or postpone the immersion to the next year.”

Further, the BMC has said that devotees shall perform “Pooja” and “Aarti” at their homes itself and then hand over the idols to the BMC. Under no circumstances will anyone be allowed to perform pooja or aarti at the immersion spots, it added. Those taking part in the immersion ritual will need to make use of mask, sanitizers and follow necessary social distancing norms, the BMC added.

Meanwhile, as a special arrangement, the BMC has created Mobile Immersion Spots on Wheels this year by fitting suitable water tanks in trucks. Devotees are also requested to take advantage of these Mobile Immersion Spots after taking information from the official BMC website.