Overview

• The Bombay High Court’s interim framework requires idols up to six feet to be immersed only in artificial tanks, with larger idols allowed in natural waters under safeguards through March 2026.
• Maharashtra’s guidelines permit manufacture and sale of Plaster of Paris idols with conditions, including a visible red mark on the back and mandatory sale registers enforced through local licences.
• The BMC is adding 75 artificial ponds to reach roughly 275 citywide, including four new ponds at Girgaon Chowpatty, and will send PoP remnants to its Shilphata facility in Thane for scientific disposal.
• Pune Municipal Corporation will deploy 648 steel tanks at 281 locations, operate 241 idol collection centres, promote donations over natural-water immersion, and continue its halt on ammonium bicarbonate distribution.
• The Karnataka High Court pressed full enforcement of the state’s 2023 notification on PoP idols as the pollution board reported violations and an FIR against manufacturers evading restrictions.