The winners of FPJ’s Eco Ganesha BMC Award 2023, were felicitated last week at the Y B Chavan Centre. The awards, which are in their 4th year, reward Ganpati mandals and families who adopt environmentally friendly festivities.
The FPJ group partnered with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to promote the idea. Support also came from Indian Oil, Red FM 93.3, and the print media partners, Navshakti.
Programme details
The programme began with the lighting of the lamp by the special guests – actors Ajinkya Deo and Smita Gondkar, BMC’s Deputy Municipal Commissioner Ramakant Biradar, Rajiv Mishra, Director of Sir J J College of Architecture and Abhishek Karnani, President, Free Press Journal group of newspapers. This was followed by invocations to Lord Ganesh and Devi by Jahnvi Lakshminarayanan, a 22-year-old student of Shankar Mahadevan Academy (SMA).
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Mishra said that public participation in the awards has been growing since its inception. Biradar said that aquatic life is adversely affected by the immersion of idols that contain chemicals like arsenic. A total of 21 awards were given out in four categories, including one for household Ganpatis and one for community pandals.
Jahnvi Lakshminarayanan, who has been diagnosed with autism, is the daughter of Lakshminarayanan, who works with a software company, and Tripti, a homemaker. Jahnvi was introduced to music at the age of 14 when her parents enrolled her in Hindustani music classes. Her parents felt that music's therapeutic properties could help her.
Jahnvi’s autism is 'a mixed bag of challenges and achievements, said her mother Tripti. As a child, she had phobias and sensory dysfunction. She is still extremely sound-sensitive. "Her music has helped in increasing her self-confidence and self-esteem. Singing has definitely made her a happy person. That in turn has reduced anxieties and phobias and improved her ability to communicate," said her mother.
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