No Ganesh visarjan in Latur due to water shortage

For the first time in over a century, Ganesh idols at Latur in Marathwada region will not be immersed on the visarjan day on Thursday due to acute water shortage in the town, local officials said.

Civic officials and volunteers of social organisations stood at the immersion spots in the city, which is about 500 km from Mumbai, to ensure that nobody immersed the idols in the usual 'visarjan' (immersion) spots.

Around 70 volunteers of a local group were on guard to check that all the idols were kept at a designated spot.

A senior official said there is "not even a drop of water" in the usual six spots in Latur where the Ganesh idols, both public and domestic, are immersed every year.

Latur district collector G Shrikant told PTI that the decision to skip the immersion process is the result of public awareness and was finalised after review meetings of the Ganesh mandals in the city.

"The big mandals were reusing the idols for the last three to four years. It is a collective decision of the mandals to skip immersion and reuse or donate idols," he said.

The municipal corporation arranged facilities for storage of idols in temples, the IAS official said. "If the idols are reused and recycled, that will be the best way to overcome the water scarcity," he added.

A local historian in Latur said this was the first time in over a century that the Ganesh idols in the city were not immersed.

From April to August 2016, the Railways provided drinking water to Latur city through Jaldoot, the water train.

The state government had then picked Miraj in Sangli district, 342 km from Latur the longest distance for a water train in India to supply water to the parched Marathwada town.