Government should provide potters with Shadu clay for eco-friendly idols

Aurangabad, Aug 27:

As Ganeshotsav is coming in the next few days and all Ganesha devotees are getting ready to celebrate the festival. In a relief to the Ganpati idol makers in the state, the Central government has decided to lift the ban on the use of Plaster of Paris (POP) for a year. However, the idol makers have demanded that the government should provide Shadu clay for making eco-friendly idols.

There has been a rise in the demand for Shadu clay idols. But as the supply is low and the clay is expensive, the sculptors have demanded that the government should provide Shadu clay for making idols. The sculptors today expressed that while announcing this year's rules for Ganeshotsav, the Central government has said that the ban on POP has been postponed for one year. Likewise, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has ordered that POP idols cannot be sold as idols, but as an item and also banned the immersion of the idols in the rivers. On this backdrop, the Ganesh idol makers said that POP is widely used by idol makers as it is a low cost substitute for Shadu and other materials. Shadu clay is now being used by sculptors due to growing demand from devotees. However, the supply is very low and the clay is also very expensive. If all sculptors start using clay, then there will be tremendous shortage and the idols will be much more expensive then now. The environmentalists should come up with other alternatives that are cheap and easy to use.

No concrete action

Due to the low availability of shadu clay and the increasing demand for idols every year, the emphasis was on POP idols. No concrete action is being taken even after pursuing the government for shadu. In the last two years, the potter community has suffered a lot and they have not received any compensation, said Marutrao Katare, president of the potters association.

Start environmentally friendly immersion

The decision of the court is welcome. Also, there is a need to start environmentally friendly immersions. POP idols can be immersed in an artificial pond without polluting rivers and dissolved using sodium bicarbonate. Last year, nearly 2,000 idols were immersed in an artificial pond in Aurangabad, said Uday Pendse, environmentalist.