Flush with the success and efficiency of collecting what is locally called nirmalya from mandaps and seafronts during the recently concluded Ganeshotsav festival, the civic corporation decided to implement a similar drive on a permanent basis.

Civic committee chairman Subhash Kanta Sawant, who handles the cleanliness portfolio said that faced with the sheer quantum of refuse the BMC has decided to streamline the waste collections in the city. Special vans will make the rounds of various temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras and other religious places once a day. ``The collected flowers will be transported to composting centres. Devotees will be pleased to know that their offerings have been put to good use rather than mixed with garbage and left in thedumps,'' said Sawant.y