VISAKHAPATNAM: 40,204 idols, 255 tonnes of waste, and more than 320 sanitation workers. Since Vinayaka Chaviti, these have been the numbers behind a less visible side of Visakhapatnam’s celebrations: the sustained clean-up operation carried out by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC).
While devotees arrive at immersion points carrying idols and return after completing the ritual, sanitation workers remain behind. Their shifts begin where the celebrations end, at the water’s edge, amid flowers, puja material, decorations, plastic, and the remnants of thousands of immersions.
In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), under Commissioner Ketan Garg, has this year put in place a continuous clean-up operation covering the immersion period.
Teams have been deployed in shifts so that sanitation work continues through the day and night, rather than becoming a post-festival exercise.
Working in batches through the day and night, the sanitation teams have been clearing designated immersion points as the festival progresses, retrieving idols and collecting flowers, puja material, plastic, cloth, decorative material, and other waste left behind.
The 2,55,626 kg of waste collected is being segregated for appropriate processing or disposal. JCBs, Bobcats, JS 80/81 vehicles, bins, and other equipment have been deployed to support the teams in handling and transporting the material.
At the immersion points, GVMC has also sought to keep non-idol waste out of the sea. Through public announcements, social media messages, and field-level communication, devotees have been asked to use designated locations and hand over flowers, puja material, plastic, cloth, and decorations separately.
For a coastal city, this separation is important. Waste collected at the immersion point can be managed through the civic waste system, while material that enters the sea is more difficult to retrieve and manage.
The exercise also underlines the need for public participation. Municipal workers can provide the collection and clean-up infrastructure, but keeping the festival waste out of water bodies begins with separating it at the source and handing it over to designated collection teams.
For the sanitation workers, the task has continued alongside the celebrations. As one shift ends, another takes over to continue the operation.
The numbers provide a measure of the operation, but they also reflect the sustained effort of a workforce working largely out of public view.
