Mumbai: A total of 36,672 Ganesh idols were immersed between 12 noon on Aug 31 and 9am on Sep 1, said BMC. Of these, 23,204 were Plaster of Paris idols and 13,468 were eco-friendly idols. reports Richa Pinto. The majority of the immersions took place in artificial tanks, where 23,091 POP idols and 13,446 eco-friendly idols were immersed. In natural water bodies, 113 POP idols above six feet in height and 22 eco-friendly idols above six feet were immersed.The 36,672 idols included 35,230 household idols while the remaining was public and hartalika idols. The immersion process was carried out smoothly, with no untoward incidents reported, BMC confirmed. For comparison, last year saw 38,717 idols immersed on the fifth day alone. During the 1.5-day idol immersions last week on Aug 28, a total of 60,177 idols were immersed — all in artificial ponds, said officials.Meanwhile, a reply to a RTI query filed by activist Godfrey Pimenta on BMC’s expenditure during Ganesh festivals revealed that costs have risen sharply over the last decade—from Rs 6.53 crore in 2015–16 to Rs 54.47 crore in 2024–25. Officials attributed the increase to inflation in costs of services, and the additional infrastructure required to manage crowd control and safety.
