Not so green festival after all, fume residents
BENGALURU: While the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) has claimed that the use of Ganesh idols made of Plaster of Paris came down by 99 per cent this year, residents of Sarjapur remain far from convinced. Several people living in the area say they did not see any reduction in the number of PoP idols that immersed in Kaikondrahalli Kalyani situated on Sarjapur Road. Many pieces of POP idols were immersed in the Kalyani, and are still floating in the water while others have just been dumped around the lake. No body has come to remove the pooja waste, they say.
“Despite a ban on the use of PoP idols, a large number of them were immersed in the Kalyani of Kaikondrahalli lake. What has the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) or BBMP done to implement the ban? The Kalyani has become dirty and the water has started to stink,” a resident said.
Others also revealed that last year, the PoP idols were not removed for a year, and that the water was cleaned just weeks before Ganesha Chaturthi this year. “It looks like the same is going to happen this year too,” Ashish T, another resident of the area, said.
Some pointed out that the idols are as much as 5ft high. “This is not acceptable at all. People don’t realise their responsibility, nor has BBMP bothered to send their people to clean it up. We feel sad seeing the half-broken idols lying in one corner near the lake,” Sushma Reddy, another concerned citizen, said. People now worry that all the mud and waste will end up chocking the outlet, and create more stench in the Kalyani.
A BBMP official said, “ This time, the number of PoP idols was not zero, but it was less than the previous years. This happened only because citizens brought in a change. However, some people still used them. We are cleaning all the Kalyanis and will take up the Kaikondrahalli kalyani too.”