Environmentalists worried over idols floating in water bodies

September 23, 2016 12:00 am | Updated November 01, 2016 08:28 pm IST - COIMBATORE:

Closer to the eastern bund of the tank, the floating idols have caused consternation among environmentalists.

A Vinayaka idol floating around in Singanallur Tank in the city, two weeks after Vinayaka Chathurthi. —Photo: M. Periasamy

A Vinayaka idol floating around in Singanallur Tank in the city, two weeks after Vinayaka Chathurthi. —Photo: M. Periasamy

A good 10 days after Vinayaka Chathurthi, Vinayaka idols continue to float around in the Singanallur Tank.

Closer to the eastern bund of the tank, the floating idols have caused consternation among environmentalists.

Lalitha Gautam, a resident of Krishna Colony, said that it was bad to see the idols floating, continuing to discharge paint into the water. It will only increase the water’s toxicity and affect the avian health.

While she was in no way against the celebrations, she said that the organisers of the Vinayaka pandals would do well to use environment-friendly materials and also paint so that the Singanallur Tank or any other tank for that matter did not get polluted. Vinny Peter, an environmentalist studying the Singanallur Tank’s ecology, said that this was the season that local and foreign migratory birds would start visiting the tank and therefore it was important to keep the tank as pollution-free as possible.

She said that one could at present spot spoon bill, painted stork, ibis, pelican among other birds.

The nature enthusiasts say that the authorities should devise some mechanism whereby the idols didn’t pollute the water bodies.

The Corporation authorities said that they would look into the issue.

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