Overview

• Government guidelines confirm manufacture, sale and display of PoP idols are permitted, with immersion governed by environmental protocols.
• The Bombay High Court’s interim framework through March 2026 directs idols up to six feet to artificial tanks, with taller idols potentially allowed in natural water bodies subject to strict conditions.
• Some recent reports assert the court does not permit PoP immersion in natural waters, highlighting continuing confusion over how the interim orders are being interpreted.
• State rules add a five-foot threshold for public mandals where natural-water immersion may be considered only if no alternative exists, and require red-dot marking of PoP idols plus sale registers for licensing.
• Local bodies are deploying artificial ponds citywide, mandated to collect idols post-immersion, clean seabeds and other water bodies, and conduct scientific recycling, as MPCB steps up monitoring under CPCB and NGT directions.