Ganeshotsav 2011: Greens, PMC stop 1,21,000kg of 'nirmalya' from rivers

A whopping 26,000 kg of nirmalya (floral offerings) was diverted from the rivers of Pune by green activists — led by the SWaCH (solid waste collection and handling) cooperative and social enterprise eCoexist — during Ganesh idol immersions this year.

A press statement issued by SWaCH on Monday stated that as many as 119 SWaCH waste pickers and 400 volunteers from colleges and corporates were stationed at 15 immersion spots on the river banks in Pune city to prevent nirmalya from being cast into the river.

The statement said the nirmalya collection and recycling project saw the team collect 23 tonnes of flowers, fruit, coconuts and other material and 3.5 tonnes dry waste (plastic, thermocol, paper) on September 6 and 11, the two key days of the immersion. This year corporates such as Cummins, Emcure and Praj sponsored the project at 15 ghats.

Employees of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) collected another 95,000 kg nirmalya during the immersion ceremony, up by 20,000 kg over last year. Deputy municipal commissioner Suresh Jagtap said the PMC had kept containers at 140 locations to collect nirmalya. About 300 kg gulal was also collected.

After the immersion procession 2,500 PMC employees started cleaning roads in the city. The cleaning of major thoroughfares like Tilak Road, Kumthekar Road, Kelkar Road, Bajirao Road and Laxmi Road was over by 1.30pm.

In a new initiative, the footfalls in six ghats was tracked by SWaCH to determine how many citizens gave their nirmalya for recycling, instead of immersing it in the river. Nirmalya from 25,000 households from Sangam, Aundhgaon, Mahadev Mandir, Vriddeshwar, Garware and Katraj ghats gave their nirmalya to the wastepickers and volunteers.