Durga Puja – Green Immersions

Durga Puja - Green Immersions
Durga mata at kali bari janak puri near BB Block
Durga Puja - Green Immersions
Durga mata at kali bari janak puri near BB Block

This year the Durga Puja in Delhi witnessed a new trend of immersion of the idols. The idols were immersed in pits, dug up near most puja samitis instead of being taken to Yamuna river ghats. This helped in reducing the pollution in the river. No idols reached any of the Yamuna ghats and it saved the river from being polluted.

Delhi government advertised much in advance wherein various places were listed for the immersion (about 168 places in Delhi). Various mandirs and ‘Kali Baris’ have created these of their own also. Various improvements have been made after learning from Ganesh Chaturthi. Where immersions in pits were carried out for the first time. The self-created pits make it easy to collect the idols and any waste left behind.

The registration process started well in advance to ensure all puja samitis knew about the “green immersion”. The puja samitis anticipated a few troubles and faced a lot of criticism, but coordination with the government in advance helped them. Earlier, the immersion process took 4-5 hours. However, on Tuesday it took us just five minutes to reach the site. Since everyone was given time slots, there was no rush. Moreover, this time even women and children were able to take part in the immersion.

Key Learnings:

1. Where there is a will, there is a way. Government participated and things worked out.

2. Lots of chemicals add pollution to the rivers. This time it helped to reduce the pollution.

3. Earlier only a select people used to go for the immersion however, this time the numbers increased exponentially.

4. Our Delhi needed this because pollution levels are high. Other states must follow this example.

5. Future is going to need more such steps to reduce the pollution level and make Delhi once again greener and pollution free.