If some idol-makers of eco-friendly Ganpatis are to be believed, they have made a lot more eco-friendly idols for Sarvajanik mandals this year. And one of them is as high as 22 feet.
“I make both eco-friendly and plaster of Paris (POP) idols. This year, I made at twenty per cent more eco-friendly idols as compared to last year. As awareness is growing, people prefer eco-friendly idols. We too encourage people to buy eco-friendly Ganpatis,” said Yogesh Khamkar, an idol-maker from Tardeo.
Khamkar added: “For Sarvajanik mandals, I have made one more eco-friendly idol this year, and have increased the height of another one. The smaller Sarvajanik idol is of around nine feet while the bigger ones is all 22 feet this year. This one in shadu mati is considered to be among the tallest.”
Sandeep Gajkosh, another idol-maker who makes eco-friendly Ganpatis out of paper, said he goes to the extent of using waste paper to add to the eco-friendly initiative.
“We do not use paper that has any print because they say ink is not good. So, we go to the printing press which have plane while paper. Their discarded paper is used by us. We make sure that we take care of the waste and use it for making Ganpatis,” said Gajkosh.
This year Gajkosh made a total of 50 eco-friendly Sarvajanik idols as compared to just over 10 last year. These ranged from eight inches for household to 15 feet for Sarvajanik. “This year, there was a demand from Sarvajanik mandals; so I focused on the big idols as compared to household ones. Over 25 were taken by people from Mumbai alone,” said Gajkosh.
Digambar Mayekar, who makes idol out of paper, said that this year the demand is high but this time they could not make as many due to space constraint. “This time we did not get space in time. There was a lot of demand but we could not even match up like last time. However, this time we have increased the height of our tallest idol by two feet and it is around 20 feet,” said Digambar Mayekar, another idol-maker from Vile Parle.
...& ANALYSIS
That increasing numbers of Sarvajanik Ganpati mandals are opting for eco-friendly Ganpatis is a good sign. It shows that the message of celebrating the festival in an eco-friendly manner by bringing in eco-friendly idols that is being encouraged by DNA is seeping into the masses. Masses reflect the mood of the city. That idol-makers are also encouraging people to take eco-friendly Ganpatis is a positive sign when city fathers are increasingly accused of taking actions that are detrimental to environment.
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 "Eco-friendly Ganpati idol")
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