NMC all set for Day 1 of immersions

Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) seems to be all set for the Ganesh idol immersion days, beginning from Tuesday.
The civic body will be installing almost 300 artificial tanks across ten zones in the city. According to chairman of NMC’s health committee Vicky Kukreja, around 100 artificial tanks are already in place for the one-and-a-half-day immersion of Ganesh idols slated to held on Tuesday.
“This year, we have not left the arrangements for the last minute. All the water tanks, nirmalya kalash and other preparations are in place well before time,” said Kukreja.
As the tanks were already installed at Futala Lake on Monday, large-scale immersions of hartalika teej were carried out in artificial tanks. “The task for NMC now is to clean these tanks during night and keep fresh water ready for next day’s immersions,” said Kaustav Chatterjee, founder of NGO Green Vigil Foundation.
The chairman added that on September 5, a meeting will be held at NMC to take a final review of all the arrangements. NMC has also constructed three concrete tanks near Ambazari, Shukravari and Sakkardara lakes. “In the next three days, all the tanks will be 100% operational. The tanks will be filled using water from lakes,” said Kukreja.
NMC’s health officer (sanitation) Dr Sunil Kamble said that 51 kalash have been put across the ten zones. “We are urging the citizens to discard nirmlaya and other materials in these containers. NMC staff will be regularly cleaning them,” he told TOI.
To ensure further protection of city lakes, NMC has cordoned off all the lakes apart from Futala. TOI has been reporting from the last two years that Futala has been bearing the brunt of immersions. Every year, over 700 huge idols are immersed in the water body.
“NMC has barricaded all lakes except Futala, and hence, maximum load will be on it this year too. This calls for preparation on war footing to save the heritage lake. Sufficient number of artificial tanks and nirmalya kalash should be in place surrounding the lake. The reinforced cement concrete (RCC) tanks at Gandhisagar and Sonegaon lakes need to cleaned before immersions,” said Chatterjee.
Instead of the usual rubber tanks, NMC has installed steel tanks. “This is a better idea as even the smallest mild steel tank can accommodate 500 idols as against only 100 idols in case of a rubber tank. Further, the steel tanks can’t be damaged by anti-social elements,” said Chatterjee.