Woes of pollution, throes of tradition: Organisers tackle immersion norms
NEW DELHI: A 52-year-old Robin Bose has been spending sleepless nights ever since he received the Delhi Pollution Control Board (DPCC) guidelines on idol immersion. The general secretary of the Kashmere Gate Durga Puja Committee is struggling to find a way to meet the guidelines without doing away with the most unique aspect of the annual festival —taking a 10-15-foot tall idol of goddess Durga on a bullock cart in a procession to Geeta Ghat on the Yamuna.
“Every year, Bengalis from all across Delhi would first assemble at New Delhi Kali Bari with their idols and would proceed to Geeta Ghat, passing through the Lal Qila, and we would join them at Alipur Road,” Bose recalls. “At Geeta Ghat we would all wait for about an hour in front of the Yamuna to watch one of our senior members perform the ‘dhunuchi naach’ (a form of Bengali traditional dance),” he added.
But over the years, the tradition of immersing idols has had an adverse effect on the river. Apart from silting, toxic chemicals such as lead, mercury used in the idols pose a serious danger to the river and its aquatic life.
On directions of the National Green Tribunal, earlier this year the DPCC came out with guidelines to tackle pollution caused by idol immersions. Besides prohibiting the use of chemical substances in idols, the guidelines require that immersion of idols should to take place in artificial ponds dug at designated spots. The guidelines had kicked-in during the Ganesh Chaturthi festivities and need to be followed during the Durga Puja celebrations.
This is for the first time that the Delhi government has implemented a full-fledged action plan on immersions.
While maintaining that the move is necessary, many in the Bengali community fear that it would break a nearly 110-yearold tradition of a united immersion procession, and are negotiating with the DPCC.
“We understand that the community has reservations about the move since it affects their traditions. In this respect, we are still assessing what to do with Durga Puja idols since they are larger than that of Lord Ganesh and will give a decision shortly,” a DPCC official said.
“When the Joint Procession Committee was formed sometime in the 1940s, only seven pujas used to be held in Delhi. Today, approximately 700-750 pujas are held in the region. Had Bengalis in Delhi been disciplined and united, then there would have been little need to break our tradition,” Swapan Ganguly, a senior member of the New Delhi Kali Bari Puja Committee, said.
“The celebration of Durga puja provided the Bengali community with a cultural link between Bengal and their new home in Delhi,” Shamu Ganguly, retired professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said. “Bengalis in Delhi have come up with different forms of expression of their culture through literary festivals, theatre among others. However, Durga Puja remains the most important expression of bonhomie in the community which is spread across the city,” he added.
The history of the Bengali community in Delhi spans over a century. The first Bengalis in the city settled here in and around Kashmere gate in the late 19th century. The first grand-scale puja took place in 1910 at Roshanpura. Later it moved to Alipur road where it is held till date and is popularly known as the Kashmere gate Puja.
The number of Bengalis in the city increased after 1911 when the Britishers shifted the national capital to Delhi. With a large number of government employees moving to Delhi, the puja pandals at Minto road, Timarpur, Karol Bagh, Sarojini Nagar and other government colonies were established during the period.
Newer puja pandals were introduced after the resettlement colony was established in Chittaranjan Park (CR Park) in the 1970s for those Bengalis who had lost out on their land and property in East Pakistan.
“The first puja in CR Park took place in 1971 opposite Market 1. Over the years the puja committees kept splitting and presently 10 or 11 pujas are held in CR Park,” Anup Acharya, member of the Chittaranjan Park Purbanchal Durga Puja Samiti, said.
The increase in the number of Durga Pujas across the city resulted in the first split in the joint immersion procession in 1993, when those in south Delhi, led a separate procession to Kalindi Kunj.
In recent times, there has been a further split with puja pandals from east Delhi taking a separate route. “There are also hundreds of others in Delhi who have not registered themselves with any of the procession committees,” explained Prof (retd) Shamu.
“With so many idols being immersed in the Yamuna, the tradition has lost its charm and cannot be continued any further. Religious norms suggest that the idol has to be immersed in water and the artificial ponds are sufficient for that purpose,” said Acharya. He added that in accordance with the DPCC guidelines, the puja committees in CR have decided to immerse idols in ponds created in their respective own grounds or in parks near their pandals.
Tests carried out by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) after Durga Puja and Ganesh Chaturthi immersions in 2018 revealed that concentrations of toxic chemicals, had shot up several times rending the Yamuna waters unfit for bathing.
Acharya might have found a supporter in Bose who agrees that immersion in the Yamuna needs to be stopped. “However, we might have to discontinue carrying the idols in a bullock cart since the nearest designated spot with an artificial pond is about 10km away as opposed to the one kilometre we would travel earlier,” he said.
On the other hand, there are many who believe that the new guidelines are a blatant attack on the culture of Bengalis.
“Immersing the idol in the Yamuna is of religious significance to us,” said Swapan Ganguly.
He has decided to not have an idol at all if not allowed to immerse it in the Yamuna.
However, Acharya might have a suggestion for those who are yet to make up their minds on the immersing the idols in the Yamuna.
“Given a choice, I would still want the joint immersion procession. However, traditions have to change with time and now this ritual needs to become part of Delhi’s history,” Acharya said.