‘Requested Aarey Milk Colony CEO To Permit Ganesh Idols' Immersion In Lakes’: BMC To Bombay High Court

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has informed the Bombay High Court that it has requested the CEO of the Aarey Milk Colony in suburban Goregaon to permit immersion of idols in the three lakes within the colony since there is not enough time to make alternate arrangements. 

The BMC filed an affidavit in reply to a PIL filed by NGO Vanashakti Vanashakti seeking direction to the BMC to prevent immersion of Ganesh idols in the three lakes — Chhota Kashmir lake, Ganesh Mandir lake and Kamal lake — in Aarey Colony. It also urged that the BMC be directed to make separate arrangements for creating artificial tanks for immersion outside the colony. 

A division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhayaya and Justice Arif Doctor, in the last hearing, had directed the BMC to file an affidavit in reply to the PIL. 

BMC to clean talao after immersion

During the hearing on Friday, senior advocate Milind Sathe, appearing for the BMC, said that they have once again written a letter to the CEO of Aarey Colony requesting permission for immersion this year. He also assured the court that the BMC will clean the talao after the immersion. 

Unimpressed, the chief justice said that whether the civic body was not aware of the CPCB notification, “Look at the tenor (of the letter)… as if you (BMC) are not aware of the notification.” 

To this, Sathe said that the notifications do not expressly prohibit immersion. 

An affidavit was filed by Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Zone-II) Ramakant Biradar saying that they have once again written a letter to the CEO to permit immersion after it was rejected earlier. 

"Violation of 2008 court order"

Vanashakti’s Advocate, Tushad Kakalia, had pointed out that the BMC had granted permission for immersion and a letter to the effect was also written by the Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Ravindra Waikar. This is in violation of the 2008 court order and the guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which banned immersion of idols made from non-biodegradable materials in natural water bodies. However, the BMC affidavit contended that it will implement phase wise the guidelines issued by CPCB on May 12, 2020, under the caption “Revised Guidelines for Idol Immersion”. 

“Considering the scale of massive celebrations of the Ganpati festivities within the city of Mumbai, the attraction for large idols and livelihood of the people dependent on the same, the Corporation has decided to implement the said guidelines in a phase-wise manner ie. in 3 years phases of 2022, 2023 and 2024,” the affidavit read. 

It added that for the last several years, the immersion of Ganesh idols has been undertaken in the tank at Aarey Talao (OP Talao) at Dinkarrao Desai Marg for both private and public Ganesh celebrations. 

The BMC had written a letter to the AArey CEO on July 19 seeking permission for immersion, the same was rejected on August 11 saying, since Aarey Colony has been declared as Economic Sensitive Zone, the “immersion of Ganesh idols in Aarey talao cannot be done”. 

However, the BMC has once again written a letter on August 18 requesting utilisation of Aarey talao for immersion “at least for this year since time to make arrangements is very short”.

Sathe stressed that if the CEO grants the permission, immersion will not be allowed at Aarey talao by the Municipal Authorities.