The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Two lakh Ganesha idols immersed in Ulsoor Lake

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Sunday, Sep 14, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Two lakh Ganesha idols immersed in Ulsoor Lake

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: Beginning 7 a.m. every day since September 3, the earmarked immersion tank at Ulsoor Lake, known as “Kalyani”, has taken in at least two lakh Ganesha idols of all sizes, according to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) workers and cleaners at the site. Until Friday, nine tonnes of garbage and dirt had been removed every alternate day since Ganesha Chaurthi. This 2,500-square-foot tank is being cleared on these days from 6.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m., and then again between 2.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m., as people continued to immerse their idols. Three tonnes of garbage were being removed from the adjoining areas around Kalyani, which were being cleaned during the festival season, say BBMP workers.

“The September is used up to clean the tank and parts of the lake,” says a BBMP worker. A minimum of four truckloads leave the lake every day which includes foliage and plastic covers. A team of police constables guard the area to ensure that people did not try and breach the gates after handing the idols to the BBMP workers for immersion.

Whether the immersion affects the rest of the lake in any way was yet to be examined. Chief Scientific Officer, Karnataka State Pollution Board, B.R. Balagangadhar, said the samples had been arriving since the immersions began and were being tested. “The samples are from the period before immersion, during immersion and after immersion,” says Dr. Balagangadhar.

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