Mumbai: More than 66,700 Ganesh idols immersed till Thursday morning, says BMC

More than 66700 Ganesh idols were immersed in various water bodies in Mumbai till Thursday morning civic officials told news agency PTIThe immersion of idols has gone smoothly so far without any untoward incident they saidAs part of the 10daylong Ganeshotsav dedicated to the elephantheaded god idols of the deity are usually immersed after one and a half days five days seven days and ten days or as per family traditionsAccording to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC a total of 66785 oneandahalfday Ganesh idols were immersed in the sea and other water bodies including artificial ponds till 6 am on ThursdayThe idols were taken out and immersed amid chants of Ganpati Bappa Morya the beating of drums music and danceOf the immersion figures so far BMC said 66435 were household Ganesh idols while 350 were sarvajanik or community idolsThe civic body said 27736 idols were immersed in artificial ponds set up to avoid pollution of natural water bodies across the city Of these 27564 were household Ganesh idols and the rest sarvajanikNo untoward incident was reported anywhere during the immersion the BMC claimedThe BMC has earmarked 69 natural water bodies including stretches off the coast and created 191 artificial ponds for immersion this yearGaneshotsav is one of the biggest festivals in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra Idols of the deity are brought home and installed at pandals during the 10day celebrations that start on Ganesh Chaturthi September 19 this year and end on Anant Chaturdashi September 28 this yearMeanwhile a total of 5786 tons of solid waste including garbage and construction debris has been collected from various areas of Mumbai so far this month the civic body said on WednesdayThe solid waste collected and transported from all 24 civic wards includes 1603 tons of garbage and 4183 tons of debris and trash a release saidCurrently the Solid Waste Management Department of the BMC is implementing a collective cleaning drive on small roads alleys slums and similar areas in its jurisdiction with the help of other departmentsIn the wake of the ongoing Ganpati festival the areas around Ganapati pandals and immersion spots are also being cleaned day and night the release saidIn this campaign 449 additional manpower including 429 representatives of nongovernment organizations and 20 contract workers have been recruited besides regular employees of the civic body the release saidAlong with the daily vehicles of the Solid Waste Management Department 181 additional machines like JCBs dumpers etc have also been deployedWith inputs from PTI