A band of 30 boys has geared up to help devotees bid adieu to Lord Ganesh at Telangkhedi lake. They accompany the Lord on his journey under water. Interestingly, these children also tell devotees not to pollute the lake water by throwing puja material. Sunil Neware, 16, one of the teen divers and a resident of Futala slum, told TOI that while helping the devotees teenager like him earn something like Rs 2,000 each during the festival.
Devotees take idols for immersion after one, five, seven or 10 days. Sunil said they earned more on fifth and 10th days of festival. He said that though price of every essential commodity and even of idols have increased mani-fold, the young divers have kept our their rates same. The kids charge between Rs 11 and Rs 501 depending on the size of the idol.
Rupesh Atram, an SSC student of Nutan Bharat school and a team member, said that he bunks his classes during these 10-days. These teenagers are helping the devotees since last four years. A few of them have life-jackets which, besides keeping them afloat effort-lessly, also help them attract devotees. “It reassures the devotees that we are trained and experienced,” Sunil said and added that they also followed all rituals like taking three dips in the lake before bidding adieu to lord. While many devotees take their services, some avoid doing so fearing for the kids’ lives. Sandeep Lanjewar, a businessman, on Friday threw the idol in the lake himself. He said that he did not want to take any risk by allowing these children to immerse the idol. “As they are below 18 and I don’t know swimming, I preferred to throw the idol from the bank,” he claimed.
Sunil said he gave half of money earned to his parents, while with rest he purchased clothes for Diwali festival. Some of the older boys have been selected by Ambazari police to act life guards during the last day of immersion. The fire and emergency services department of Nagpur Municipal Corporation will also be deploying trained swimmers to avoid any untoward incident.
They will be deployed in all six lakes-- Telangkhedi, Gandhisagar, Ambazari, Sonegaon, Naik talao and Kalamna dob-- where immersions take place, said the chief fire offi-cer Chandrashekhar Jadhav. Besides, the fire department would also deploy fire tenders at each spot.
Devotees take idols for immersion after one, five, seven or 10 days. Sunil said they earned more on fifth and 10th days of festival. He said that though price of every essential commodity and even of idols have increased mani-fold, the young divers have kept our their rates same. The kids charge between Rs 11 and Rs 501 depending on the size of the idol.
Rupesh Atram, an SSC student of Nutan Bharat school and a team member, said that he bunks his classes during these 10-days. These teenagers are helping the devotees since last four years. A few of them have life-jackets which, besides keeping them afloat effort-lessly, also help them attract devotees. “It reassures the devotees that we are trained and experienced,” Sunil said and added that they also followed all rituals like taking three dips in the lake before bidding adieu to lord. While many devotees take their services, some avoid doing so fearing for the kids’ lives. Sandeep Lanjewar, a businessman, on Friday threw the idol in the lake himself. He said that he did not want to take any risk by allowing these children to immerse the idol. “As they are below 18 and I don’t know swimming, I preferred to throw the idol from the bank,” he claimed.
Sunil said he gave half of money earned to his parents, while with rest he purchased clothes for Diwali festival. Some of the older boys have been selected by Ambazari police to act life guards during the last day of immersion. The fire and emergency services department of Nagpur Municipal Corporation will also be deploying trained swimmers to avoid any untoward incident.
They will be deployed in all six lakes-- Telangkhedi, Gandhisagar, Ambazari, Sonegaon, Naik talao and Kalamna dob-- where immersions take place, said the chief fire offi-cer Chandrashekhar Jadhav. Besides, the fire department would also deploy fire tenders at each spot.
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