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Ratnagiri: The festivals and celebrations of only Hindus are being focused on, ignoring the huge pollution in water, air and land on the pretext of environmental protection. Unscriptural campaigns like ‘Murtindan’ and ‘Artificial wells’ are being conducted on the occasion of Ganeshotsav regarding the immersion of Ganesha idols in the name of water pollution. In order to stop the gross desecration of Ganesha idols caused by such campaigns, a statement of demand was given to the district administration at Ratnagiri on 5 September 2024 on behalf of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, respecting the religious sentiments of Hindus and not implementing such concepts.
At this time Mr. Mangilal Mali, Shri. Chhaganlal Chhipa, Narrator of Shivcharitra Shri. Arvind Barskar, District President of Shri Shivpratisthan Hindustan Ratnagiri Shri. Ganesh Gaikwad, Ms. Ankita Rajeshirke, Shree Sharada Devi Temple Charity Trust Turambav, Tel. Mr. Chiplun. Dattatraya Pandit, Shri. Vijay Salvi, Mr. Vasant Bandbe, Mr. Nagesh Tambe, Shri of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. Sanjay Joshi was present.
The statement given to the administration said,
- 1. The report of the ‘Public Accounts Committee’ for the year 2015-16 submitted to the Legislature states that out of the 36 municipal councils selected by the Accountant General, 208.51 million liters of waste water is being discharged into rivers, lakes etc. without any treatment in 34 municipal councils. This number is increasing every year.
- 2. Also, out of 21800 metric tons of solid waste in the state, 15000 metric tons of solid waste is not disposed of. It has been recommended to the government to file cases against 19 municipal councils that are guilty in this regard.
- 3. Immersed Ganesha idols in artificial ponds are again thrown in rivers, seas, lakes etc. All the money and labor spent on the artificial pond is a complete waste.
- 4. In some places, it was noticed that the municipal administration was disposing of the Ganesh idols donated by bulldozers.
- 5. In Pune, the English newspaper ‘Pune Mirror’ has published the pictorial news of Ganesh idol being thrown directly into the river from the garbage dumper on the front page. The situation is similar in other parts of the state.
- In order to stop the gross desecration of Ganesha idols, the following demands have been made to the administration in this statement.
- 1. Administration or other non-governmental organizations should not accept ‘Idol donation’ from Ganesha devotees.
- 2. Artificial lakes should not be created by spending lakhs and crores of rupees every year.
- 3. Purvapar should not obstruct the immersion of idols in natural water bodies according to religious practices.
- 4.Government should encourage idol makers to make Ganesha idols made from Shadu soil and natural colors.
- 5. The administration should ban the manufacture, sale and disposal of polluting paper pulp idols.
