Mumbai: BMC unable to meet demand for artificial ponds this year, too

An artificial pond at Hedgewar Maidan, Vile Parle East on September 20, 2023. File pic

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is trying to create more artificial ponds for the immersion of Ganesh idols, but land availability in the city is an issue. The corporation had tried to set up 300 such water bodies last year but ended up creating only 194 due to lack
of space.

The concept of artificial lakes was mooted in 2008, and the civic body used to provide one or two of them in each of the city's 24 wards. In 2019, there were 32 artificial lakes but the number saw a five-fold increase amid the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Immersions in artificial lakes rose from less than 20 per cent to more than 50 per cent in these two years. Even after restrictions on public gatherings were revoked, the popularity of such lakes due to their safe and environment-friendly nature increased, and more than one-third of idols immersed were in man-made lakes last year. Approximately 2.06 lakh idols were immersed in natural as well as artificial lakes last year, a notable rise from the 2022 count of around 1.93 lakh idols. Out of the 2.06 lakh idols, 76,000 found their way into artificial ponds.
But despite the demand, the BMC hasn't been able to increase the availability of such immersion spots as space is a major issue. The civic spends almost R5 lakh, including the cost of digging, to create an artificial lake.

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Suresh Sarnobat, secretary, Akhil Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mahasangh, said, "The BMC faces land availability as well as technical issues while digging lakes. Authorities such as MHADA don't permit digging as officials fear that the BMC won't fill the dug-up area properly after immersions. But such issues must be solved amicably as it is in the larger public interest."

"This year, we aimed to provide 200-plus lakes. The spots will be decided at the ward level," said Prashant Sapkale, deputy municipal commissioner and coordinator
for Ganeshostav. This year, BMC decided to make a list of artificial lakes on Google Maps to make the information easily available to the citizens. Apart from this, devotees will also get information about artificial lakes through QR codes placed outside pandals.