The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) recently allocated a budget of Rs 1.5 Crore to provide movable immersion tanks for Ganesh visarjan. This initiative, however, has received mixed reviews, with activists and citizens expressing their concerns that only a fraction of the population has chosen to use these tanks, as many still prefer the traditional method of walking to the permanent immersion tanks by the riverside.
According to official data, approximately 13% of the city’s residents opted to immerse their idols in the movable immersion tanks, while the majority continued to rely on the permanent immersion tanks constructed by the civic body. Out of a total of 5,61,428 idols immersed in the city this year, only 59,126 were immersed in the newly introduced movable immersion tanks.
The municipal corporation had issued a tender to create 150 movable immersion tanks for use on the visarjan day in the city. However, this decision sparked criticism from some quarters, with people arguing that the concept of movable immersion tanks was most suitable during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when authorities encouraged individuals to avoid crowded places and immerse their idols safely at home.
The debate over the effectiveness of these movable immersion tanks continues, with some praising them as a pandemic-inspired solution, while others question their long-term utility.
