Fishes and flowers

This September there was respite for the fish in Bombay’s Banganga Tank after the Pitru Paksha religious event thanks to the efforts of the non-governmental organization Beauty Without Cruelty-India (BWC) and the trustees of the Gowd Saraswat Brahman Temple Trust Shree Balaji Mandir, Bhuleshwar. During the 16-lunar day period in the Hindu calendar Pitru Piksha, Hindus pay homage to their ancestors, especially by making food offerings (pind) which are sometimes thrown into the holy tank.
In earlier years thousands of fish have been found dead during this period. In the past sign boards appealing to people to desist from throwing food into the water had not been effective. So BWC sent a letter to the trustees reminding them that it was their duty to ensure that the fish did not perish, wrote Diana Ratnagar, chairperson of the Poona based trust in the winter 2022 issue of their newsletter Compassionate Friend (CF).

Banganga Tank in Bombay Photo: Wikipedia

What was needed was for the tank to be cleaned after removing the stagnant water and security guards to be employed to ensure that food offerings were not immersed in the tank but only dipped before placing them in vessels, stated the editorial. Additional staff would be needed to remove any food found in the tank at the end of each day.
A copy of the letter was sent to the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) seeking assistance in dealing with the problem. When Bijal and Hiren Kara of BWC visited the Banganga Tank during Pitru Paksha they saw many security guards on duty. Also, there were no dead fish floating in the Tank, noted CF. There were only flowers on the surface and several ducks at the far end of the Tank.
BWC was pleased to receive a letter from the BMC stating that no fish had died this year because "dewatering pumps were installed for aeration purpose.”

S. V.