nagpur a serene calm prevailed at sonegaon and futala lake where immersions began late afternoon by devotees who install an idol for 1 day and immerse it by evening of second day of the ten day festival but there are cries of dismay as the idol floats instead of settling down i perform chat puja also here and then too i am particular not to put any puja material in the lake she says for homemaker manju singh environment is a concern so she buys pure clay idols made in chindhwara the cement tank has been gaining popularity with the devotees of the thickly populated neighbourhood over the past three years the heavier one is made of clay and i have been getting it right for the past three years he says keeping the idol only for 1 days due to shortage of time young government employee daya sagar says that the artificial immersion initiative is good but there is still a long way to go retired government employee shashikant sanjidwa says he weighs an idol before buying it this year there must be some problem as it is very dirty i dont feel like putting the idol in it but there is no choice ensuring that there is really no choice for devotees trying to avoid the artificial tank are the handful of senior citizens working as volunteers to guide devotees at futala three artificial tanks on vayusena nagar side are being monitored by volunteers of green vigil and nmc officials we enjoy sitting along this lake and want it to remain clean a volunteer tells the devotees by 330pm only 20 immersions had been performed at artificial tank made by nmc at sonegaon lake the water is so dirty that i would have preferred immersing it in the lake said avinash pathak a priest the government should bring a ban on pop idols instead of monitoring their sales by putting marks on it says amit singh sales manager in the company a group of corporate workers traditionally dressed and sporting saffron turbans arrive with their idol and offer aarti every year when homemaker asha badwaik comes to sonegaon for immersion she finds the water in the tank very clean complaining about the lack of standardization of clay idols pathak said ideally i would like to do the immersion in a bucket at my home and utilize the clay in my garden but the idols we get in the market do not dissolve completelybut though the water of the tank was muddy and a stink rose from the huge kalash placed for disposal of flowers yet the devotees trickling in had no qualms about immersing the idol in the tank the idol stands the test as it goes to the bottom of the tank at once and begins to disintegrate within ten minutes we believed the vendor says bhawana deshmukh who bought it from gokulpeth