Powai volunteers find use for immersion leftovers
This Ganesh visarjan, 100 volunteers from Powai have come together to ensure that the citys beaches and lakes remain clean following the immersion.
The volunteers will join Powai-based NGO Young Environmentalist Action Group, along with Rodas Ecotel, and visit immersion spots to collect all bio-degradable materials left behind by devotees. Floral offerings will be collected in separate pits to make manure.
Elsie Gabriel, member of the Young Environmentalist Action Group, said starting Monday, the first day of visarjan, the volunteers including school students and citizens will go around the city beaches and lakes urging devotees to handover their floral offering to them.
These offerings would then be brought to Rodass special vermicompost garden in Hiranandani, Powai, where it would be collected in large vermicompost bins to be turned into manure. In a month or two, these flowers will turn into rich manure which can be used in gardens across the city, Gabriel said.
Punish Sharma, GM of Rodas ecotel Powai, stated, We have requested people to join our vermicompost efforts. Following the Ganesh visarjan, our green team will get together on the Powai lake promenade to clean up the area. Floral offerings as well as the waste lying around will be collected, brought back to the hotel, sorted and segregated for recycling and composting.
The Rodas already has six large vermicompost bins in its garden and has set up two more bins for collection of Ganesh visarjan offering. We are expecting to collect at least 200-30 kgs of floral and bio-degradable offerings this year, Gabriel said. Every year, nearly 10,000 immersions take place at Powai lake itself, she added.
The vermicompost garden in Hiranandani will be open from 8 am on September 23, to allowed individuals and mandals to personally visit and hand over their nirmalya.