A month-old video showing thousands of idols lying on the Sabarmati river front circulated on social media platforms passing them as Ganesh idols thrown by people has prompted the Ahmedabad civic authorities to debunk the viral video stating that no idols were thrown by the people as claimed in the video.
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Video clip
A video clip was circulated showing thousands of idols lying on the river bank and passing it as how people had thrown the idols on the river bank without properly disposing them of.
As the video clip went viral, Ahmedabad Municipal Commissar Vijay Nehra took to the Twitter to set the record straight. Mr. Nehra said the “out of context video” clip was being circulated a month after he himself had posted a video clip and shared pictures of ‘Dashama’ (a local deity) idols were left by people without throwing them in the flowing river for disposal.
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“I shared this one month ago. Retweeting this in light of some out of context videos being circulated on social media,” Mr. Nehra said on Twitter, while posting his one-month-old tweet.
“Something amazing is happening in #Ahmedabad today. Ordinary citizens have decided to keep #Sabarmati river clean. Instead of immersing Dashama idols in the river, they have respectfully left them on the banks!! Thousands and Thousands of them. Unbelievable change ?,” the Municipal Commissioner had tweeted on August 11, this year.
Dashama festival
Dashama festival celebrated in Ahmedabad is similar to Ganesh Chaturthi celebrated in many States in the country. People worship the idol of goddess Dashama and perform special pujas for 10 days and on the last day, people immerse the idols in water bodies. However, idols made of Plaster of Paris (POP) and painted with hazardous colours cause severe water pollution and are not biodegradable.
In a video message, Mr. Nehra asked the citizens to protect the river and environment by ensuring that Ganesh idols were not thrown into the river similar to what people did during the Dashama festival a month ago.
As the Ganesh festival is ending on September 12, there will be several thousands of idols that will be required to be disposed of in environment friendly manner.
Special tanks
The civic body has created special water tanks at 61 places along the river bank in which idols would be immersed.
“The civic body with the support of the citizens has decided to keep the river clean so that no idol will be immersed in the river, “ Mr. Nehra said.
Special drive
He said thousands of people volunteered to clean the river in a special drive that was launched by the civic body with the support of civil society groups and NGOs this year.
“It is a very good initiative to protect the river from pollution by immersing thousands of idols in the river. Now, people are just leaving their idols at the river bank,” said Darshana Patel, who came to leave Ganesh idol at the river bank on Monday.