Bhubaneswar: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has constructed three separate immersion ponds here in the city for immersing Ganesh idols with a view to ensure zero pollution of river water the festivities.
These immersion ponds have been constructed at Kuakhai Bridge near Pandra, another near Tankapani Road and the third near Lingipur adjacent to Daya Dridge for the immersion of Ganesh and other idols. The ponds will be used for immersing idols of all the upcoming pujas, including Durga Puja this year and Saraswati Puja in February 2019, the BMC said in a release Friday.
To ensure zero pollution of the rivers and local water bodies in and around the Capital city, the BMC has developed scientific immersion ponds for people to use them and ensure minimal pollution in the water bodies and rivers.
“The size of the ponds would be need-based, i.e. they would be of smaller sizes for Ganesh Puja and the size of the ponds would be larger for immersing Durga idols,” said city engineer Debasundar Mohapatra.
Earlier, the civic body constructed temporary immersion ponds during Durga Puja. However, this year onwards, the ponds will cover all immersion activities like Ganesh Puja, Viswakarma Puja, Gajalaxmi Puja, Durga Puja, Kali Puja and Saraswati Puja so that there would be zero pollution due to the immersion activities in and around the city, the release stated.
While the Division I of BMC has constructed an immersion pond near Pandra on the bank of Kuakhai river, Division II of BMC has constructed immersion ponds near the bank of Kuakhai at Tankapani Bridge and another near Lingipur at Daya Bridge.
“This effort is a welcome step towards keeping the river water free from polluting elements as the synthetic chemicals could add to the miseries of aquatic life and the people living downstream,” said senior environmental scientist of Odisha State Pollution Control Board, Dillip Behera.
According to environmental experts, metal compounds like lead, cadmium, chromium and nickel are largely found in synthetic colours and if idols in large numbers are immersed in the rivers then they might result in carcinogenic toxicity in the water and eventually affect people as well as animals and plants.
“On the other hand, bio-degradable substances like straw, paper and flowers will decompose in the water and the process will deplete the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. The depletion of oxygen in the river water will affect the oxygen supply to the aquatic animals and plants. The BMC’s effort will definitely help in improving the quality of water in the rivers,” said environmentalist Bijay Mishra.