Now, a website on clay Ganeshas

Hyderabad: In what could bridge the gap between environmentally-aware denizens and clay Ganesh idol makers, the GHMC is in the process of creating a web-portal that will serve as a buyer-vendor marketplace.
Civic body officials said the initiative was taken up after noticing that a number of vendors indeed wanted to sell clay idols, but couldn't find buyers owing to an absence of a platform and the necessary publicity.The GHMC is now determined to resolve this difficulty and put an end to the environmental issues relating to idol immersion following years of flak from environmentalists and even the Hyderabad HC. Civic chief B Janardhan Reddy said the new website would be along the lines of the green Hyderabad portal which had details of all the nurseries for the much-touted Haritha Haram programme. "People of the city are now quite environment-conscious and want to go the extra mile to protect it. But we noticed that many are finding it difficult to locate a vendor who sold clay idols. We hope to solve this problem with the new website," he said.
GHMC estimated the the city's idol makers together have an inventory of about 16,000 clay idols. Some residents, however, are sceptical of the initiative saying the idea was still untested and may not be a hit rightaway. "Despite the rising awarness about environment, a large majority of people still want to have their idols looking colourful. This might eventually have them go in for plaster of Paris idols," said Anil Kumar, a school teacher who was earlier involved in providing clay idols.
Talking from experience, Kumar said, "Clay idols can't be very large and tall since clay as a material is fragile. The highest they can go is seven-eight feet. So people looking for large idols buy PoP ones." Not just city folk, chief secretary Rajiv Sharma too recently directed Pollution Control Board officials to promote use of clay idols. In a high-level meeting last month with the officials and members of the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi, Sharma asked the committee members to limit the height of Ganesh idols, avoid use of plaster of Paris and use natural colours in order not to increase pollution in water bodies. Dr Rajiv Sharma appealed to the BGUS members to cooperate with the administration for the smooth conduct of the immersion of Ganesh idols in Hussain Sagar and other places.