Ahead of the annual celebrations of Vinayaka Chathurthi, the district administration held a joint meeting with police and other department officials in Madurai on Wednesday.
The chaturthi falls on September 19 (Wednesday) and on the occasion people would celebrate by decorating the idols of Lord Ganesha and subsequently take them out on a procession to the nearby river/tank for immersion.
Like in the previous years, the police listed out the places for immersion in the city and peripheries for different groups of Hindu outfits to start and end their processions.
The dimensions make and other finer details of the idols proposed to be taken out in procession would be conveyed to the representatives seeking police permission, the meeting was informed.
District Collector Anshul Mishra presided over the meeting in which DRO R. P. Raveendran, DCP (law and order) R. Thirunavukkarasu, ADSP (crime) A. Myil Vaganan, Madurai Corporation Deputy Commissioner Sambavi, RDO Durairaj (Madurai) and Shanti (Usilampatti) and among others participated.
The Vaigai river, Keelathope, Othakadaikulam, Kumaram tank in Vadipatti taluk, Melakkal, Iyyanar Koil Oorani, Gundaru, Maravankulam tank, Mottai Kulam, Saptur tank, Devankurichi tank, Mankatti Teppakulam respectively have been identified for immersion, police said.
The idols of Lord Ganesha made of clay alone would be permitted for immersion.
In recent years, idols made of Plaster of Paris and painted in different colours were immersed in water bodies, which resulted in pollution.
This would end up in skin related problems as the salinity of the surface water goes up.
In the case of consuming the water, it may lead to indigestion problems to human beings or milch animals.
The presence of heavy metals such as lead, zinc in the synthetic paints would get accumulated in the food chain and may be carcinogenic to human being, the meeting informed.
Hence, the idols should be made of raw clay and without any chemicals.
The District Environmental Engineer has appealed to the public not to immerse idols painted with chemicals or colours in water bodies.
