Festival fervour overrides eco considerations

NAGPUR: It has been for more than a decade now that the environmentalists have been driving home the need for an eco friendly Ganpati festival. The public too has been debating and discussing this issue with vigour. But if it's a matter of beauty and looks, undoubtedly the PoP idols win hands down over their clay counterparts. And as the pandals are all about decorations, beauty and shimmering glamour, the idol which looks better wins.
With the big mandals in the city installing idols with heights upto 5 to 25 ft, the question remains if the idols are purely clay or PoP. And have natural paints been used on them or chemical ones.
Corporator Prakash Gajbhiye, who has installed a 25ft high Ganesh idol at Hilltop says that this would not be damaging the environment in any way. "This festival is about the religious sentiment of lakhs of people. The idol installed in my pandal is made of clay and only natural paints have been used." Tell him that the immersion of such a tall idol could harm the ecology of the water body and he replies, "I would be doing the visarjan at Futala. And the NMC is capable enough of undoing any damage caused to the lake."
For Sanjeet Jaiswal protecting the environment is a big consideration. "We have used only plywood and cloth for decoration. The 7ft high idol is made of clay and the visarjan would be in an artificial tank at my industrial unit." But ask him about the use of chemical colours on the idol and he too gets evasive. "I am not very aware of the type of colours, but yes there are gold and silver colours on the idol," he says.
Corporator Baba Maind feels that ecology and Ganesh festival have no connection. "We have been installing the idol for the last 52 years and these big idols of upto 17ft are being installed for the last 30 years. No idol can be made of 100% clay. A layer of PoP is applied on it to give it the required finish and so that the paint can be applied properly. And yes, I do agree that the paint used is chemical." Brushing the issue of environment aside he says, "We have been following the same systems for the past so many years, I don't think it has harmed the environment in anyway."
It is the ordinary citizen who is more aware than those who wield power. Vinod Joshi a city businessman says that he buys the idols made in Pen. "Previously when we were staying in Mahal, I would buy clay idol from Chitaroli. But now we buy it from exhibitions. The bills or receipts given to us do not state that the idols are of clay, but yes I know that a PoP idol is lighter than a clay one, so I weigh it to differentiate between the two."
For homemaker Aparna Atrey, the issue of an eco friendly Ganpati utsav is paramount. "In our area at Wardha Road, we collectively install an idol in the premises of a small temple. We are all aware of the damage caused to the water bodies by immersion of PoP idols. For the last three years we have been buying small size idol as bigger idols take time to dissolve completely."