An affidavit filed in response to a public interest litigation filed by a NGO Janhit Manch states that “the corporation has also made arrangement for cleaning the beaches by the beach cleaning machine daily”.

The petitioner had moved court seeking to restrain immersion of idols and Nirmalya or Pooja materials during festivals which pollute the waters.

Shankar Vishwanath, Director of Engineering, Services and Projects department of MCGM, in his affidavit states that “the Girgaum beach, Dadar Mahim beach, Juhu beach and Versova beach are regularly cleaned” by the authorities concerned.

As per the affidavit, in 2007 1,67,854 Ganesh Murtis and 30,000 Durga Murtis were immersed in various beaches around the city. “The gross weight of these idols comes to around 4,500 metric tones. 2,160 metric tones of Nirmalya was collected and converted into manure by the vermi- composting method during 2007,” the affidavit states.

It’s further stated that during Ganpati festival Solid Waste Management department makes arrangement for the ward wise tempos for collecting Nirmalya.

“These tempos are unloaded at the vermin-composting sites fixed at each ward levels. Thereafter, the Nirmalya is segregated from the plastic bags and other material by NGO labourers,” the affidavit states.