Though puja festivities for the current year are long over with idols being immersed, the worry of environmentalists is far from over. Idol immersion is a ritual being observed since time immemorial and in places where there are no rivers, organisers immerse it either in big tanks or ponds.

The main source of worry for environmentalists is the effect of immersion, visible in rivers and ponds. And these left-overs, so to say, sharply increase the metal content in water. Till the surface of the water and banks are properly cleaned, this deadly particle keeps polluting water, increasing the possibility of human beings and aqua creatures contracting various types of diseases.

With the number of community pujas increasing by the year and awareness about subsequent pollution not registering a matching growth, the bewildered flock of environmentalists were in a dilemma on the course of action required to be taken to arrest this trend.

Environmentalist Subhas Dutta, accompanied by two other members of the Ganga Monitoring Committee, who cruised around 8 km along the Hooghly in a mechanised boat, discovered with much dismay that post-immersion, the Kolkatta Municipal Corporation (KMC) failed to carry out the necessary dos and donts in the river.

Anticipating this lethargy, they had earlier sought a balm from the Calcutta High Court. The court donning the mantle of a green crusader, directed the KMC and more than 40 municipalities that dot both sides of the river to undertake the clean-up act in right earnest once the immersion is over.

Court order

In an order issued against a public interest litigation (PIL), the court directed the KMC and these municipalities to make the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) share half the entire expenditure for the clean-up of this solid waste from water.

The court appointed a five-member Ganga Monitoring Committee (GMC) for a survey of Hooghly ghats and riverbanks from the city to the districts to find out the actual situation of rivers, post-immersion.

The survey gave an alarming revelation; the city might have far excelled the districts in beauty and grandeur of idols, but when it came to immersion, the smaller towns in the districts along both banks of the Ganga were far behind.

The riverbanks in the districts were much cleaner than their counterparts in the city, according to Mr Biswajit Mukherjee, senior law officer of the West Bengal Environment Department and GMC convener.

On top of it, the West Bengal Pollution Control Board which tested the samples of water collected from the ghats in the city and smaller towns and compared the level of pollution, confirmed this fact. The municipal areas that are away from the periphery of the city dumped less pollutant material in the river.

Green expedition

But how did that become possible? Through community participation, claimed Mr Mukherjee. "Tremendous efforts had been mounted by a majority of these municipal authorities to free the river of idol structures, leaves, flowers, and a host of other puja wastes by involving all sections of people and I feel Chandannagar (former bastion of the French in the late 19th century) can be a model in this regard," he said. The municipality that launched the ‘Green Expedition' (Sabuj Abhijan) programme succeeded in involving people from nearly all segments of the society - puja organisers, clubs, NGOs, fishermen, boatmen and even regular bathers in the popular bathing joints - who ensured that puja wastes were not dumped in the river for good. Organisers themselves engaged divers to pull out pollutants from the river and dump them at a place from where municipal payloaders picked them up.

Whose responsibility?

Finally, the question that comes to mind is the role of the City Municipal Corporation which, alongwith its counterpart in the adjoining Howrah district, failed to address the issue, despite the court directive.
True, immersion ghats in the city are in excess of 100 as against about 55 on an average in each of the districts. Nevertheless, one of the principal reasons behind their failure is their refusal to clean up riverbanks and ghats immediately after immersion.

One explanation to the KMC's refusal is that the cleansing act of the river comes under the jurisdiction of the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) and not the KMC, which is why it has developed cold feet.

Stop immersion?

City mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya has a different take on this problem. "We are definitely seized with the issue. The Hon'ble High Court has asked KPT to assist KMC in the job. I would like to make a formal prayer before the court to ensure that idol immersion is permanently stopped in the river. Only this measure will help arrest the fast deterioration and pollution of the Ganga," he said.

According to him, community puja organisers must deeply introspect the deadly effect immersion has been impacting on the river. "They should find out ways to recycle idols rather than getting them immersed every year. The practice of puja organisers polluting the Ganga every year through idol immersion and the State Government making all arrangements for the clean-up operation at the cost of the tax-payer, must stop at the earliest," he contended.

He also wants an immediate hike in the permission fees for the pujas. "The organisers pay a very nominal amount as fee though we spend nearly 30 lakh for de-polluting the river. Even then, we don't get the desired result," says Bhattacharya.

When asked if the call for banning idol immersion in the Hooghly would hurt religious sentiments, he claimed that the Hindus actually do not worship idols and Hindu scriptures don't suggest immersion of idols.

"I see no controversy arising out of a demand to stop all immersion in the river to save it from deadly pollution. Plus, I would love to plead with the court for participation of the organisers in cleaning the river. That will provide real meaning to community participation and the state would make necessary arrangements," said the Mayor.