Mumbai: Maharashtra is celebrating it's most beloved 10-day-long Ganpati festival which began on September 7. As part of the festival, devotees welcome Bappa at home and at sarvajanik mandals on large scale. In Mumbai itself, there are over 2,500 mandals. In order to prevent environmental damage, the government has been urging the citizens to celebrate the festival in an eco-friendly manner. Artificial Spots play a key role in ensuring that idol immersions do not harm the environment.

Considering that immersing the idols in the seawater causes environmental damage, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) installs hundreds of Artificial ponds for Ganpati idol visarjan across the city.

As per BMC data, a total of 66,339 Ganesh idols were immersed on Sunday, of which 30,558 idols were immersed at Artificial ponds and 35,781 were immersed at Natural locations.

As the table below shows, Mumbai's R-South ward, consisting of Kandivali East and West, had the most number of visarjans (3318) at Artificial Spots followed by K-East ward- Andheri East (3248) - and K-West - Andheri West (2409). These were the top three locations across the city which emerged as "Bappa's Favourite PIN Code" initiative by the Free Press Journal to promote eco-friendly visarjans.

After the 1.5 day Ganpati visarjan on Sunday, The Free Press Journal brings to you the localities that witnessed the highest number of immersions in Artificial spots.

As per the data provided by BMC, across 24 civic administrative wards in the city, there are total of 263 locations where Mumbaikars can immerse Bappa's idol. Out of 263 spots, 74 are Natural locations and 189 are Artificial ponds. The Natural spots refers to the seashores and lakes the city has. While, Artificial ponds are installed by the civic staff where idols are immersed in an eco-friendly manner.

Out of total 189 Artificial ponds, the maximum are in the western suburbs, followed by eastern suburbs and the city.

In western suburbs, the P-South ward (Goregaon) has highest 18 Artificial ponds, followed by P-North (Malad) has 13, R-South (Kandiwali) has 12, R-North (Dahisar) has 7, H-East (Bandra East) has 4 and H-West (Bandra West) has 1.

In eastern suburbs, S ward (Bhandup) has highest 13 Artificial ponds, followed by N ward (Ghatkopar) has 7, M-West (Chembur West) has 4, T ward (Mulund) has 4, L ward (Kurla) has 1 and M-East (Chembur East) has 1.

While in the city area, F-South ward (Lalbaug, Parel) has 15 has highest Artificial spots, followed by E ward (Byculla) has 13, D ward (Malaba Hill) has 10, F-North (Sion Matunga) has 7, C ward (Kalbadevi) has 3, B ward (Masjid) has 3 and A ward (Colaba) has 2.

Meanwhile, on the first visarjan of this year's Ganpati festival, the one-and-half-day Ganpati idols were immersed on Sunday. As per BMC data, a total of 66,339 Ganesh idols were immersed on Sunday, of which 30,558 idols were immersed at Artificial ponds and 35,781 were immersed at Natural locations.

The 10-day Ganpati festival will end on September 17, Tuesday, with visarjan taking place fifth, seventh and 10th day.