While Ganesh Festival in India has drawn to an end after 10 days of intense festivities, a grave question that arises every year has yet again kicked up a debate on social media.
Faith and religion aside, the immersion of the Ganesh Idol in water bodies 'visarjan', a tradition of bidding a symbolic good bye to the lord often draws flak from environmentalists. First, because the idol itself is often made of Plaster of Paris (PoP) and fibre that is toxic not only for aquatic flora and fauna but also to humans. Second, the dumping of paraphernalia into the water bodies and public places.
A video posted on Facebook by HvKprasad Prasad has gone viral because it shows the environmentally unfriendly practices of 'visarjan'. It also shows how the very idol, which was worshipped by thousands just hours before, is being unceremoniously dumped into a river right from a bridge. The video shows civic sanitation workers tossing idols off the truck while two persons in police uniform seem to casually watch the entire process.
While the origin and veracity of the video is yet to be confirmed, the video's caption places the incident on National Highway 44 near Mehboobnagar in Karnataka. It also identifies the water body as the Krishna River.
Watch the video here:
