Want to save Gomti? Deposit Ganesha in murti bank for immersion later

LUCKNOW: In an attempt to mitigate the effects of idol immersion in Gomti while retaining the ritual of ‘murti visarjan’ in water, a group of people in old Lucknow have come up with the concept of ‘Murti Bank’. For the entire week, idols would be collected in a closed aluminum-glass case at Tudiya Ghat and on every Sunday, volunteers would dig a huge pit, fill it with water and immerse the idols in it.
Shruti Nagpal, a resident of Chowk, has been celebrating Ganpati Utsav for the past seven years but this is for the first time that she has opted for an environment-friendly immersion. “Every year, we immersed our Ganpati in Gomti because that was the traditional way but my conscience does not allow me to leave my Ganpati in such filthy water. This technique is good in that without contaminating the river we will be able to immerse the idol in clean water,” she said.
Like Shruti, many others are opting for this alternative. “A major reason of this practice catching on is because we don’t have to tamper with our rituals. This year my family has also decided to deposit our Ganpati at the murti bank,” said Rishabh Saxena, a businessman.
Riddhi Gaur, a social activist who pioneers this initiative, said, “Till last year, we used to encourage people to perform ground immersions but very few people would opt for it due to their strong religious beliefs. So after a lot of brainstorming this year, we came up with this.”
The practice is also gaining public support, said organisers. Last week, as many as 300 small and big Ganesha idols were collected that were immersed in the water on Sunday. One of the volunteers, Ramakant Pandey, said devotees will also have a chance to witness immersion of their Ganpati. “A lot of people come up with queries like, ‘Will they be able to see the ritual or where will the pit be made... they can be at the ghat on Sunday and see the ritual for themselves,” said Pandey.