MUMBAI, Sept. 2 -- On the fifth day of the Ganesh festival, over 36,000 idols had been immersed. Of these, a tiny fraction of 135 were immersed in natural water bodies - a testament to the MPCB's regulations, high court's rulings, and the BMC's doubling down on artificial ponds. It is this that has caused the BMC's expenditure on the celebrations to skyrocket over the years. An expenditure of Rs.32 lakh in 2007-08, as per data accessed through an RTI response by activist and lawyer Godfrey Pimenta, has jumped to Rs.54.47 crore in 2024-25. The most substantial rises were seen from 2019-20 to 2020-21, the beginning of Covid, from Rs.10.2 crore to Rs.22.88 crore - a 124% increase. In total, over the 18 years from 2007, the BMC has spent a whopping Rs.246.88 crore, found Pimenta. Data on the current year's expenditure is not complete yet. "Even during the pandemic when no visarjans took place, expenditure is highly inflated," said Pimenta. However, Prashant Sapkale, deputy municipal commissioner of Zone 2, who has been in charge of central Ganeshotsav arrangements, countered that as there was a restriction on the number of people allowed to go for a visarjan, many makeshift water bodies were constructed. "The civic body has ramped up figures of artificial ponds to 288," Sapkale said. It became mandatory to immerse POP idols in artificial water bodies in 2021, said Stalin D, director of Vanashakti. However, the BMC began introducing artificial ponds gradually since 2006, explaining the spike in expenditure. This year, the BMC included eco-friendly paint in their distributions.Sabah Virani...