The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is engaging with priests and residents to prevent recurring fish deaths at Mumbai's historic Banganga Tank, which are caused by ritual pollution and water quality deterioration during Pitru Paksha.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is engaging with priests and residents to prevent recurring fish deaths at Mumbai's historic Banganga Tank, which are caused by ritual pollution and water quality deterioration during Pitru Paksha.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is engaging with priests and residents to prevent recurring fish deaths at Mumbai's historic Banganga Tank, which are caused by ritual pollution and water quality deterioration during Pitru Paksha.

Mumbai’s historic Banganga Tank has once again witnessed fish deaths, prompting the civic administration to plan an awareness meeting with priests and local residents on preventing pollution of the centuries-old water body.

The historic Banganga Tank at Walkeshwar is facing a problem that has now become an annual occurrence: fish deaths linked to deterioration in water quality.

With Pitru Paksha underway, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is preparing to meet residents and priests associated with the site to discuss ways of protecting the aquatic ecosystem and preventing further deaths.

According to a BMC official, fish deaths in Banganga have been reported around the same period every year. This year, Pitru Paksha began on September 26 and will conclude on October 10.

“During Pitru Paksha, people paying homage to their ancestors pour slurry made from flour and milk into the water. This affects the fish and has become an annual problem,” a BMC official told THE WEEK.

The civic body has attributed the problem to pollution that affects the quality of the water and reduces the oxygen available to aquatic life. The proposed meeting will be held at the BMC’s D ward office, with an emphasis on making priests and residents aware of the importance of preserving the freshwater ecosystem and adopting practices that do not harm it.

The intervention comes after a similar episode last year, when hundreds of fish were found dead along the edges of the heritage water body. The BMC subsequently removed about 10,000 kg of dead fish and floral waste from the site.

The civic body had also installed collection bins for floral offerings and food waste and undertaken cleaning drives around the tank. However, the recurrence of fish deaths has prompted the BMC to look at measures that go beyond periodic cleaning.

Located in Walkeshwar in south Mumbai, Banganga Tank is among the city's most significant surviving historic water bodies. Its origins are generally placed in the 12th century, with the tank traditionally believed to have been created in AD 1127.

According to Hindu legend, Lord Rama stopped at the site while travelling towards Lanka. When he needed water, he is believed to have shot an arrow into the ground, causing water from the Ganga to emerge at the spot. The name Banganga is associated with this legend baan referring to an arrow and Ganga to the sacred river.

The tank subsequently became an important pilgrimage site, surrounded by temples and religious structures. The Banganga precinct, including the Walkeshwar Temple complex, has retained its importance as a sacred landscape even as Mumbai expanded around it.

The tank is also part of the city's architectural and cultural heritage. Its steps, temples and surrounding structures offer a glimpse into the history of Walkeshwar, an area whose religious significance predates modern Mumbai.

Today, however, the centuries-old water body is under pressure from the activities taking place around it.

The civic body's planned meeting is aimed at addressing one of the more difficult aspects of managing the tank: balancing religious practices with the need to protect the water body.

While offerings and rituals form an integral part of the site's religious life, the accumulation of organic material in the water can contribute to deterioration in water quality. For aquatic organisms, a reduction in dissolved oxygen can become particularly harmful.

The BMC therefore plans to engage priests and residents directly, rather than relying only on post-pollution clean-up measures.

The tank is controlled by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), making its conservation a matter that extends beyond routine municipal sanitation. For the BMC, preventing the recurrence of mass fish deaths will require sustained cooperation from the people who use the site.

With Pitru Paksha continuing until October 10, the civic administration is now hoping that greater awareness among visitors and priests can prevent another large-scale fish mortality event at one of Mumbai's oldest surviving sacred water bodies.

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