NT NETWORK
MARGAO
A 62-year-old tradition followed by many of Margao’s sarvajanik Ganesh utsav mandals of immersing the Ganesh idols at Benaulim’s Tolleband lake will be broken this year due to the water body getting polluted.
The Ganesh utsav mandals have been compelled to change the idol immersion spot, as the Tolleband lake has been polluted with suspected release of sewage water into the water body.
Three sarvajanik mandals including the one at the Margao police station and another at the Pimpalkatta area have said they would take the usual route as was followed in the past but the immersion would be done at Fatorda lake instead of at Tolleband.
“This has been a 62-year-old tradition that we followed and we will take the usual route but instead of immersing the idol at the usual place, we will take the idol in a pickup van to Fatorda. The situation at Tolleband is very bad, as sewage lines are being let out into the lake and we do not think it is right for us to immerse our idol in such an environment,” said Margao Pimpalkatta sarvajanik Ganesh utsav mandal member Adesh Karwarkar.
The 11-day immersion of the Ganesh idols will be held on Sunday. The mandals will take the route beginning from their location and pass the Margao municipality, travel across the Navelim bridge, proceed to Khareband and head to Tolleband.
Speaking about the route to be used by the mandals, Margao police inspector Kapil Nayak said the decision to stick to the same old route was taken because of the many devotees who venerate along the way.
“Every year, we keep the idol for 11 days and then take it in a procession to Tolleband but this year we have noticed that the water is very bad and polluted. But we will continue to take the old route because there are many devotees who wait along the route to see the idol. From Tolleband, we will take the Colva-Mungul road and head to Fatorda for the immersion,” said Nayak.