In Nashik city, the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) received over 200,000 Ganapati idols donated by devotees during Ganapati immersion on Anant Chaturdashi. Alongside the idols, NMC also gathered 177 tonnes of puja waste. NMC's initiative aims to prevent river pollution by promoting eco-friendly methods of Ganapati immersion, encouraging devotees to donate idols to the corporation instead of immersing them in the Godavari river.

NMC designated 80 locations across the city for Ganapati idol immersion, including 27 natural spots along the banks of the Godavari river and its tributaries - Nasardi, Waghadi, and Waldevi rivers. Artificial ponds were set up at 53 locations within the six divisions of the municipal corporation to facilitate devotees and prevent river contamination.

Devotees were able to take a dip in the river or artificial ponds before donating their idols to NMC. Officials reported collecting 5,000 more idols this year compared to the previous year, with a total of 177 MT of puja waste gathered - an increase of 18% from the previous year's collection.

The Panchavati division accounted for the majority of the collected idols at 79,000, followed by 45,000 idols from the Nashik Road division, with the remainder collected from Nashik East, Nashik West, Satpur, and Cidco divisions of NMC.