THE SION Lake, which is a grade II-A heritage structure along with its premises, saw about 20-25 per cent fewer Ganesh Idol immersions after Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) requested devotees not to use the site for visarjan. BMC has planned rejuvenation of the lake and restoration of its premises, which is in the planning and design stage at present.
Civic officials said that only small household idols were immersed in this lake so far and idols from community pandals were diverted to Dadar and Mahim Chowpatty for immersions.
Gajanan Bellale, assistant commissioner of the F/North ward, with jurisdiction over the area, said, “Before the festival, we had requested all mandals to use the Dadar and Mahim Chowpatty for immersions and avoid using Sion Lake. While the rejuvenation work is yet to begin, we wanted to reduce the number of immersions at the lake.”
According to information from the ward, a total of 1,919 idol immersions took place in the water body after one-and-a-half days, on the fifth day and sixth day morning of the festival, of which only seven idols were from Ganesh mandals. Of the remaining, 1872 immersions were of household Ganesh idols, and 40 were household Gauri idols.
The rejuvenation of Sion Lake is likely to begin within one year. To honour the tradition of religious practises during festivals — such as during the Ganesh visarjan — at the Lake, BMC’s heritage department, which is spearheading the rejuvenation and restoration of the lake, has planned to reserve a small portion of the water body for immersion after the restoration work is over.
A senior civic official from BMC’s heritage department said, “The restoration plans are being drawn to make a small portion of the lake open for religious traditions such as visarjan. This portion will also be given a facelift. The remaining portion will be restored to the original aesthetics of the lake as a heritage precinct, for tourists and preservation.”