More than 15 ghats along the Hooghly, three ghats along Tolly’s Nullah and over 150 ponds in various neighbourhoods will be used for the immersion of Durga idols from Tuesday, officials of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) said.
Most Pujas in Salt Lake immerse their idols in the water bodies in and around Salt Lake.
A senior official of the CMC said their experience from previous years suggests that a majority of Pujas organised at homes complete the immersion on the day of Dashami.
“There are about 3,000 Pujas in the Calcutta municipal area and about half of them complete the immersion on Dashami. Almost all the Pujas organised at homes complete the immersion on Dashami. Small budget para Pujas also complete the immersion on Dashami,” said the official.
CMC officials said that immersion will begin on Tuesday and will be allowed till Thursday. Friday will be reserved for Pujas that have been invited to the government-organised carnival on Red Road.
“Immersion will start from noon on Tuesday. There is no daily time limit, but usually immersions continue till 3.30am. We take the next few hours to clean the ghats before the next day’s immersion begins,” said the CMC official.
A police officer said that those not going for idol immersion should avoid the roads that turn into immersion corridors. “We may have to stop the entry of non-immersion vehicles on some of the roads if traffic is heavy. It is better that cars use alternative roads,” said a police officer.
A bulk of the Pujas coming from north and east Calcutta take Beadon Street and then Nimtala Ghat Street to reach Ahiritola Ghat, Nimtala Ghat, Sovabazar Ghat and PK Tagore Ghat.
Pujas coming from south Calcutta take two of the immersion corridors, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road-Asutosh Mukherjee Road and Sarat Bose Road.
The CMC official said that more than half the Puja immerse their idols in Judges Ghat, Baja Kadamtala Ghat and Nimtala Ghat.
Baje Kadamtala Ghat is located on the road headed towards Hooghly from Eden Gardens, Judges Ghat is located near Fort William and Nimtala Ghat is situated along Nimtala Ghat Street.
“Each of the ghats and ponds will have separate enclosures where flowers, garlands and other stuff associated with the deity have to be thrown,” said the CMC official.
“The main ghats will have cranes that will lift the frame of the idol within minutes of their immersion in the Hooghly. There will vehicles at the ghat that will take the frames to the Dhapa waste disposal ground,” said the official.