The 10-day long remarkable and colourful festival of Ganesha Chaturthi has finally come to an end with much gaiety and nostalgia amongst the worshippers! People immerse idols of Ganesha, bidding adios to Gannu this year and hoping, praying and requesting him to visit their homes again next year.
In the enthusiasm and majesty of celebrating this iconic festival, people forget that the use of toxic chemicals and other materials that are used to prepare the idols these days due to cost cutting, have hazardous impact on the environment. The opulence of the celebration might be enticing, but the damage it inflicts is also irredeemable! The idols these days are being made using toxic chemicals like Plaster of Paris and other chemical oil-based paints, containing high amounts of mercury and lead, due to which it takes months together for these idols to completely dissolve, and while dissolving, the toxins get mixed up in the water and pollute it.
Polluted sea water is not injurious for the environment and also the living beings as it slowly kills the aquatic plants and the marine life, it also pollutes the aquatic animals, which are consumed by humans thereby leading to cases of mercury and lead poisoning by sea foods- the same water is pumped to the homes for drinking purposes.
Every year, the government fishes out heaps of garbage from the water bodies to clean the aters- with which the idols, decorations used during the pooja which are also dumped into the sea are fished out, adding to the level of pollution in the water.
Although several measures have been taken by the government and various NGOs to create awareness amongst the people to minimize the impacts, by the use of various campaigns and advertisements that are solely intended for common people to understand the value of our environment.Eco-friendly Ganesh idols are gaining popularity but despite all the efforts, the POP idols are cheap, and glossy which makes people buy them for attraction- although most of them are ignorant about this few of them, don’t care about the effects it has on the environment.
The correct way to construct a idol is the use of straw and clay. Clay idols dissolve completely in water leaving the water free of pollution.
By:Archa Dave
