Idol makers plan eco-friendly experiments ……Chittaranjan Tembhekar
Mumbai: It could be an eco-Ganesha everywhere next year, but that will depend on the results of the crucial experiment all set to begin soon. Immediately after the 10-day Ganesh festival is over, thousands of idolmakers across Mumbai and major cities in the state will have a job on hand. Theirmanufacturing units will turn into research rooms till 2011.
They will experiment whether eco-friendly idols, as prescribed by the central and state pollution control boards, can replace the huge Plaster of Paris idols. We will see if the idea of an eco-Ganesh, in clay mixed with the pulp of shrubs and paper and painted in natural colours, works on huge idols before the festival next year. The results would be recorded and conveyed to the ministry. For us the idea still doesnt look very practical as for bigger idols there is no strong alternative to PoP, says Anna Tondwalkar, president of Brihanmumbai Ganesh Murtikar Sangh which has over 525 major idol makers across Mumbai region.
Tondwalkar says a certain blend of natural and man-made material will have to be achieved to make the idols equally tough, not fade in rains, affordable, easily soluble in water and easy to make. From where we will get the ladyfinger shrubs, babul and fig trees branches and roots to create pulp when there is a ban on tree cutting? Even ink is toxic if we use paper pulp, argues Tondwalkar. We can build idols of a certain height with clay and natural pulp. But to build bigger idols, government has to convince mandals first.
Though its a little difficult and risky to build entire an clay model with natural pulp and colours, we will conduct the experiment soon after this festival. We cannot afford to have a single damage on the idol as it is all about religious sentiments, says Santosh Kambali who makes the famous Lalbaugcha Raja.
Tondwalkar said for clay idols, the idol-makers need a place to work throughout the year but civic bodies offer space only in July every year. Natural colours are feasible but costly. If we make the clay idol it will cost almost double the PoP idol. I think consumers have to insist on clay idols if at all they want idol-makers to revolutionise the way of making the idols, said Kamal and Sandesh Pawar, idol makers in Chembur.