Mysuru: The eco-friendly Ganesha festival pervaded the city yesterday and hundreds following the strict guidelines issued by the District Administration and the Mysuru City Corporation to install Ganeshas made out of clay and not any other material, seems to have worked.

After performing day-long pujas in their houses, people along with their families came out carrying the eco-friendly Ganesha and Gowri idols and immersed them in artificial ponds and mobile tankers provided by MCC.

Many were seen performing puja to the Ganesha on the street before immersing the Lord in the mobile tanker carried in Tata Ace vehicles. As most of the Ganeshas were made of clay, the moment they were immersed they dissolved in the water.

Breaking law

However, in spite of the strict warning by the District Administration and MCC to the dealers and manufacturers not to use Plaster of Paris (PoP) or Paper-mould Ganeshas, it was found that many of these were stocked in farm houses on the outskirts of the city and sold to mainly the youth organisations (Ganesha Mandalis) who install Ganeshas on the streets. These PoP Ganeshas, it is learnt, were brought from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra and stored in the farm houses and then sold.

This was brought to the notice of the MCC officials last evening itself. But since this is a very sensitive issue, the officials decided not to seize the idols or take any drastic step on the festival day.

They have been instead asked to first collect reports on how many PoP Ganeshas were immersed and how many were eco-friendly ones. Once the final report comes, then all those who have violated the rules of not installing eco-friendly Ganeshas will be framed and stringent action taken from next year, if they continue to violate the rules.

Places for immersion

In all, there were four places where artificial pond was created and they were in Town Hall, Freedom Fighters Park in Subbarayanakere, RMC Circle in Tilak Nagar and near Saraswathipuram Swimming pool.

The places where mobile tankers were parked included 101 Ganapathi Circle, Vidyaranyapuram Circle, Teresian College Circle, Rajendranagar Circle, Fountain Circle, Gayathripuram near Manasa School, Vontikoppal near Venkataramanswamy temple, Vivekananda Circle, Ramakrishnanagar Circle, Sharadadevinagar Circle, Ballal Circle and Goblimara Circle, JP Nagar.

Mobile tankers

Mobile tankers will be back in its places tomorrow also (Sept.15) as many people keep the idols in their houses for three days and then immerse. Again on Sept.17, the tankers will come back, as a few keep the idol for five days. Immersion timing on both days is from 7 pm to 10 pm.