"Be Careful Of Sting Rays, Jellyfish During Ganesh Festival": Mumbai Civic Body

The Mumbai civic body on Wednesday appealed to people to guard themselves against the bites by sting ray and jellyfish during immersion of Lord Ganesh's idols in the sea.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has come up with a set of guidelines asking citizens to be careful given the fish-bite incidents reported at seafronts in the recent past.

"Be careful of sting rays, and jellyfish during Ganesh festival," the BMC said in a release.

Citizens should preferably carry out immersion of idols through lifeguards and other civic machinery deployed at Chowpatties or beaches, it said.

The immersion of idols takes place on different days during the ten-day Ganesh festival, which began a day before.

A maximum number of idols are immersed in the sea and other water bodies on the last day of the festival the 'Anant Chaturdashi', which falls on September 28 this time.

The civic body has urged citizens to ensure they wear proper clothes, use gumboots to avoid fish bites, strictly follow the instructions given by the administration through public announcement systems at sea-fronts, and not let children enter the water.

Sting ray bite can cause a burning sensation on the skin whereas the jellyfish bite causes itching, the BMC said, adding citizens should immediately visit the nearest primary medical centre or hospital for first aid without panicking.

For treating fish bites, the BMC has kept medical rooms ready at every Chowpatty in the city, along with a 108 ambulance.

It has asked citizens not to rub the fish bite injury as it might aggravate it.

"Citizens should first wash the spot with clean water and remove the jellyfish 'sparshak' (the sting) and apply ice on the injury spot," the BMC said.

The civic body said as per the information given by the state Fisheries Department, Mumbai's coastline remains full of blue button jellyfish and sting ray species between August and October, which means incidents of biting may occur during immersion of Ganesh idols.

"Since Mumbai's coastline is among the protected ones and it doesn't have rapid currants, abundant plankton-like food is produced here for aquatic animals like jellyfish. As a result, stingrays and Blue Button jellyfish are found in sandy areas of the coastline," according to BMC.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)