Pune: Citizens have immersed as many as 6,50,421 Ganapati idols during the 10-day-long Ganeshotsav under the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits with 4,43,395 idols were immersed only on Saturday, the last day of the festival.The makeshift iron immersion tanks received a very positive response where people immersed 3,62,747 idols. The devotees donated 1,78,376 idols after the appeals by the authorities.Additionally, the administration collected 8,76,381 kilos of flower offerings, of which 6,19,662 kilos were collected on the tenth day. PMC officials said they deployed additional staff of around 250 people to clean up the trash on roads such as Laxmi Road, Tilak Road, Kumthekar Road, Kelkar Road and Karve Road, where the majority of mandals carried out their processions. The garbage included plastic bottles, flower offerings and other waste. “The cleanliness drive was carried out in association with the ward offices. The trash has been disposed of,” said Sandip Kadam, head of PMC’s solid waste management department.As per the civic data, the number of idols’ immersion went up this year by one lakh compared to 2024, when around 5,59,992 idols were immersed. The trash collection increased by around 1.5 lakh kilos compared to the previous year. In 2024, 7,06,478 kilos of garbage were collected.PMC officials said a total of 38 constructed tanks, 648 iron tanks at 281 locations, as well as 241 idol collection centres, were set up for idol immersion, along with 328 ‘nirmalya kalash’ (containers for flower offerings). Under recycling initiatives, a total of 46 collection centres, especially for the idols made from Shadu clay, were established at locations in ward offices.All public and slum-level toilets in the city were made available free of charge to citizens during the Ganeshotsav. Through ward offices, cleanliness work was carried out on daily basis at all public places, roads, open plots, chronic spots, riverbeds, riverbanks, immersion tank locations and premises of public Ganesh mandals.
