Pune:Shri. Sandip Shinde, a Sanatan reporter had gone to the bank of Mutha River for immersion of Ganesh idol when he was asked to immerse the idol in artificial pond instead of river by a municipal staff. A worker of PMC advised to immerse the idol in artificial pond and not in the river.
A worker from Fire Brigade was offering their services for immersion of idols, as the water level was high. He advised the Municipality worker to dip the idols three times in water and immerse them in the pond. But Shri. Shinde was firm and told him that he would immerse the idol only in river water. Shri. Shinde asked the workers that who had told them to advocate immersion of idols in ponds rather than in flowing water. The worker told Shri. Shinde that as it was a practice followed every year to immerse the idols in ponds created for the purpose and there were no instructions from anyone. Later, a municipal officer came to the site of immersion and he too instructed his workers to recommend immersion of idols in ponds. When Shri. Shinde also confronted the officer whether any orders were there from PMC, the officer said that there was no need for any order as every year they had been doing the same thing. Shri. Shinde asked the officer that how he was propagating immersion of idols in ponds instead of lakes. Then officer instructed his staff not to advise anyone to immerse idol in pond water.
