After Bombay HC bans plaster of Paris Ganesha idols, Mumbai's mandals react
With Ganesh Chaturthi almost here, some of Pune's sarvajanik Ganesh mandals share if the ban on theuse of plaster of Paris Ganpati idols has impacted them
After the Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to inform all sarvajanik Ganesh mandals to mandatorily follow guidelines imposing ban on the use of plaster of Paris (POP) idols, the authorities from the Pune’s biggest Ganesh mandals react to the move.
Rugved Nirgudkar, Trustee, Shri Kasba Manache Ganpati, says, “The murti kept at our Kasba Ganpati mandal is made of pure shadu mati. We don’t use POP at all. From Covid-19, we’d started this unique idea of providing devotees Ganpati idols, which are a version of the Kasba Ganpati, made of POP, but now, we make them with clay and charge a reasonable rate for it.”
Adding to it, Mahesh Suryawanshi, Treasurer, Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganesh Mandal, shares, “The first step is to accept this order and if it has been scientifically proven, then we should all abide by it. Most of the idols kept in the Ganesh mandals in Pune are one-foot tall and are made of clay. We do not keep the larger-than-life ones like how it is in Mumbai. Since 2015, we have been immersing our idols in clean water tanks with chemical powder for desolvation, provided by the corporation. Additionally, this move should also be applied to idols kept at home, as a lot of people opt for POP ones.”
What is the move by Bombay HC?
A division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar said that all mandals have to follow guidelines issued in May 2020 by the Central Pollution Control Board, imposing a ban on POP idols. “You may have heard of the saying ‘extraordinary situations call for extraordinary order’. These guidelines have been in place since 2020. What can be a more urgent and exigent situation than a degrading environment?”, said Chief Justice Upadhyaya.