Bhubaneswar: As the festive and puja season is set to begin from Sept with Ganesh Puja, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked its engineering wing to prepare logistics to dig artificial ponds for idol immersion to avoid reckless practice.BMC officials said six temporary ponds, a control room and approach roads would be kept ready before the puja begins near Kuakhai river, Daya bridge and Tankapani bridge to facilitate idol immersion in Ganesh Puja, Viswakarma Puja, Durga Puja, Laxmi Puja, Khudarankuni Puja, Kali Puja and Kartikeswar Puja festival in the city.“For all pujas starting Sept and ending November, ponds would remain ready. Each time, idols are immersed, the solid waste and other remnants are fished out and the ponds are again made fit for reuse,” said a BMC officer.BMC engineers said like previous years, it has been planned that they and enforcement personnel would be deployed to guide puja committees to immerse the idols without hassle. BMC will also issue guidelines as to which puja pandals should take idols to which ponds.“Each pond at a time can accommodate immersion of 25 idols. After immersion, while the solid waste would be shifted to the dump yard, the liquid waste will be taken in cesspool vehicles to the sewage treatment plant,” said a BMC officer.BMC has been following idol immersion in artificial ponds since 2017 after Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) issued advisories to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack civic bodies, citing pollution of natural water bodies. Besides rivers, puja organisers used to immerse idols at Bada Pokhari, Nua Pokhari, Joka Pokhari, Malianta Pokhari, Bhim Kunda, and Bindu Sagar.Starting with Ganesh Puja, there follows Viswakarma, Durga, Gajalaxmi, and Kali puja every year, and Saraswati Puja in Feb next year. So, between Aug and Feb, the city sees 2,200 idols getting immersed in artificial ponds that are resized and reshaped after every immersion.
