Even though mandals were instructed to keep the visarjan routes clean, devotees were seen littering the roads and displaying very little civic sense
Old women
After visarjan processions come to an end, cleanliness is a major issue the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has to deal with every year. While civic authorities usually clean up the mess, this year, the PMC’s health department teamed up with a few NGOs to keep the city’s roads clean during the festival.
Cleaning up the mess: Roads being swept clean after the immersion processions. Pic/Shashank Sane
Citizens, however, were seen littering and treating the roads as a dumping ground. PMC’s health sub-inspector, Dhanashree Bhatte, said, “I was overseeing the immersion ghats along Mutha River and was very upset with the citizens’ behaviour at these sites. It’s our duty to keep the area, where the mayor and other dignitaries come to witness the immersion, clean. But people were throwing plastic bottles and other rubbish on the road. We expect a certain civic sense from the people to, at least, keep the waste with them till they see a bin and discard it there instead of throwing it on the streets.”
The corporation had appointed a few Class II and III officers to look after the cleanliness of the area near the immersion ghats. Bhatte added, “We have already requested Ganesh mandals to keep the procession routes clean. But, people seemed to ignore this by throwing all kind of waste on the roads. People call us and provide information about any unclean area, but they are not willing to clean it up themselves.”
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