Thane:After the incident of desecration of Lord Ganesh idols during re-immersion at Upavan lake, another similar incident has come to light. For conservation of natural lakes, four artificial ponds have been constructed near the Rayaladevi, Upavan and Ambeghosale lakes in Thane. It has been brought to light that while taking out idols of Lord Ganesh from the artificial ponds near Rayaladevi lake, a fire brigade’s engine came to the spot. The workers started taking out water from the artificial pond and with the help of daily-wage workers, the idols were removed from the ponds.
Many idols were big in size and it became difficult to take them out and load on the trucks. Therefore, some of the idols were banged on the floor and broken to facilitate loading. The idols were hit and broken to fit maximum no. of idols in the trucks and then such broken idols were covered with plastic cover to hide them from the public eye.
The trucks were brought to Reti Bunder around 1.30 in the night and by 2.15 a.m., the idols were immersed at Parasik Retibunder. Some of the locals saw the idols being taken out from the ponds and they felt that such desecration was very wrong. The idols worshipped by people with so much of devotion and love were handled in such disgusting manner. Although it was earlier brought to the notice of Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) that such sacrilege was taking place while re-immersion of idols and TMC had assured to prevent such desecration. But TMC did not keep its word.
(Lord Ganesh devotees should question the Thane Municipal Corporation and concerned contractors about the desecration of Lord Ganesh under the name of re-immersion. ? Editor)