NMMC creates artificial immersion ponds for Eco-Friendly Ganeshotsav.

The Ponds

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has built 136 artificial immersion ponds around the city as part of a major environmental campaign before of Ganeshotsav. This initiative is a part of Municipal Commissioner Dr. Kailas Shinde’s push for a plastic-free, eco-friendly Ganeshotsav.

The municipal area’s artificial ponds have been placed thoughtfully to provide residents with easy access. This program attempts to reduce the harm that customary idol immersion rituals, which frequently result in the contamination of natural water sources, do to the environment. By making the ponds easier to submerge Ganesh idols made of environmentally acceptable materials, pollution is reduced.

According to information provided by the civic body, 26 artificial ponds have been developed in the Nerul ward; 19 artificial ponds have been developed at CBD Belapur; 18 artificial ponds have been developed in the Airoli ward; 17 and 16 artificial ponds have been developed in the Turbhe and Vashi nodes; 15 artificial ponds have been developed in each of Koparkhairane and Ghansoli; and 10 artificial ponds have been developed in Digha.

To make these ponds easily accessible for devotees, they are being built in a variety of places, such as parks, open spaces, and public grounds. For example, the ponds in Belapur are close to well-known locations like Yashwantrao Chavan Maidan and Radha Krishna Garden, and in Nerul, they are close to locations like Gawdevi Maidan and Chincholi Lake. In other divisions, such as Vashi, Turbhe, Koparkhairane, Ghansoli, Airoli, and Digha, similar arrangements are formed.

In addition to the immersion ponds, the Municipal Corporation is encouraging people to stay away from plastic and thermocol decorations and to utilize Ganesh idols made of natural materials rather than plaster of Paris, which is less harmful to the environment. In order to prevent noise pollution, the Commissioner has also stressed the use of reusable decorations, such as fabric and paper, and the need to keep processions’ sound levels down.

In order to make the celebration easier, the NMMC has instituted a five-year permit procedure and eliminated expenses associated with building Ganeshotsav mandaps. 176 Ganeshotsav mandals have expressed their satisfaction with the online mandap permissions option. Navi Mumbai’s dedication to environmental preservation is seen in the growing support for Dr. Kailas Shinde’s call to celebrate an eco-friendly Ganeshotsav. In keeping with Navi Mumbai’s image as a clean and environmentally sensitive city, the manmade ponds not only aid in controlling the immersion process but also lessen the pollution load on natural water bodies.

A widespread protest is currently emerging among the people of Navi Mumbai who are against CIDCO’s continued imposition of transfer fees on property sales. To force CIDCO to stop collecting transfer fees, the Navi Mumbai Co-Operative Housing Federation, together with their 3500 affiliate Co-Operative Housing Societies, and Navi Mumbai Vyapari Mahasangh, with their 22,000 affiliate members from the trader’s class, have banded together. Across Navi Mumbai, 500 Co-operative Housing societies have written letters endorsing this cause.

The Navi Mumbai Merchant’s Gymkhana had a meeting on Monday when participants shared their opinions, the rationale behind their objections to the practice, and the best ways to tackle the problem in order to achieve their goals.

“We have determined the points in response to the request that the CIDCO board of directors approve a proposal to eliminate the transfer costs. The same would be submitted to the state government concurrently for approval, according to Navi Mumbai Citizen Foundation President Satish Nikam.

One of the key issues the federation would be investigating is a decision from the high court in Aspi Chinoy and Anr Vs. State of Maharashtra, which was subsequently affirmed by the Supreme court in the year 2022 and prevented the collector from accepting transfer charges.

The Aspi case bears similarities to the problems encountered by the people of Navi Mumbai, where the petitioner protested about the money paid to the collector as transfer fees. We held the meeting on Monday to find out if the average person was willing to fight for the cause, and the tremendous support we got inspired us to move further. The president declared, “We will now be holding talks with political representatives in order to increase pressure at the state level as well and get this system eliminated.

The use of the money received as transfer charges for the benefit of the populace was brought up at the meeting. “What services does the CIDCO currently provide to the public? What is the purpose of the money that CIDCO collects from citizens under the Transfer Charges name? Since CIDCO was the sole company responsible for maintaining the city’s infrastructure, it had the authority to request Transfer Charges up until 1992. Citizens are now required to pay Property Tax to Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, and CIDCO is responsible for collecting Transfer Charges. “Don’t the residents of Navi Mumbai pay two taxes?,” said one of the group.

According to Nikam, taking the legal route will be too expensive for them at this time, therefore they will use the protest route to obtain the outcomes.

Along the elevated road leading to the Nerul Jetty, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has announced plans to replace the current LED lamps with yellow ones in response to environmentalists’ concerns about the detrimental effects of light pollution on the pink flamingos at the DPS Flamingo Lake. This action is intended to lessen the confusion and deaths that the bright lights are causing in the birds.

For this project, CIDCO has released an e-tender, with a September 11 submission date. Since the horrible incident in January or February, when seven flamingos collided with a massive signboard for the passenger water transport terminal and died from the intense brightness of the lights, environmental organizations have been sounding the alarm. Ten additional flamingos perished, exacerbating the issue, according to the NatConnect Foundation. These deaths were probably brought on by the lights’ confusion and the lake’s drying out as a result of the intertidal water flow obstruction.

Environmentalists applaud CIDCO’s decision to solve the light pollution issue, despite its delay. When the flamingo season returns next month, Director B N Kumar of the NatConnect Foundation hopes that the lake will be prepared to greet the birds under less obtrusive lights.

The too bright light has confused the migrating birds that fly low, especially the flamingos, which has resulted in these unfortunate events. Previous to this, CIDCO had removed the signboard in response to the prompt action of joint MD Dr. Kailas Shinde. NatConnect has advised Dr. Shinde, who is currently the Commissioner of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), to repair the lighting surrounding the lake, particularly on the service road that runs parallel to Palm Beach Road.

In order to reduce the negative effects of light pollution on birds, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has previously advised NMMC and CIDCO to replace the strong lights and change the lamp angles to 45 degrees downward. NatConnect underlined that CIDCO ought to change the LED lights for yellow ones in addition to angling the lampshades to the recommended position.

The Navi Mumbai Environment Preservation Society’s (NMEPS) Sandeep Sareen expressed optimism that CIDCO will eventually take a more environmentally friendly stance. Rekha Sankhala, an activist, went on to say that CIDCO has to recognize mangroves and wetlands as essential components of the biodiversity of the city.

For nocturnal birds, light pollution has been a major problem that causes confusion. Birder and activist Jyoti Nadkarni brought attention to a similar campaign that the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) ran at Vadale Lake in Panvel, where they heeded the green request to reduce bright lights in order to conserve nighttime life.