Overview
- Over a three-day operation, the civic body removed about 10,000 kg of dead fish and ritual waste, including 6,000 kg on Sunday and 2,000 kg each on Monday and Tuesday, hauled away in seven trucks.
- BMC installed six dewatering and aeration pumps to raise dissolved oxygen and said it sent water samples for laboratory testing following the oxygen crash linked to offerings.
- Officials from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, the Fisheries Department and Taraporewala Aquarium conducted inspections as fish were seen gasping near the Gaumukh inlet.
- The city deployed an artificial pond, collection bins and mobile toilets at the site, while environmentalists pressed for permanent measures such as separate ritual pools, nets and enforceable SOPs, with legal action under consideration after lab results.
- Responsibility for prevention remains contested, with BMC citing limited powers over the trust-managed, archaeology-listed tank as residents highlight incomplete renovation work and recurring post-ritual die-offs.