To save the Hussainsagar, immerse your puja material at a kiosk

Part of the HMDA’s strategy to clean up the Hussainsagar lake, the kiosks will house water pots where a symbolic immersion will be facilitated

HMDA workers put in place a display board indicating the presence of one of the 15 kiosks where puja material will be collected. -Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

Puja material brought for immersion in the Hussainsagar lake will now have to be handed over to collection counters set up for the purpose. Officials have placed water pots at these counters where a symbolic immersion will be facilitated.

Part of the HMDA’s strategy to clean up the polluted water body, the first such counter has been set up close to the temple on the stretch between IMAX circle and Lumbini Park.

Plastic bags aplenty

Devotees are known to immerse dried flowers, leaves, garlands, burnt incense stick and the like into the lake. A fence, erected at points mostly used for the practice, failed to deter them.

Moreover, people stuff puja material in plastic bags and throw them into the lake. Officials say a large number of plastic bags were removed from the shoreline during cleaning works.

“The oxygen level at the lake is very low and flowers immersed here are not decomposing the way they should,” HMDA member, Environment, R.P. Khajuria said.

15 collection counters

HMDA’s collection counters are to come up at 15 locations along the lake’s shoreline.

“Once the usage [at the counters] picks up, we propose to put in place bigger water tubs [for the symbolic immersion],” Mr. Khajuria said.

He said the collected puja material would be shifted to Sanjeevaiah Park daily and used to prepare organic manure.