Pune: Make Eco friendly Bappa at home

Mehab Qureshi

Pune, August 13, 2020: While the Ganesh Chaturthi is around the corner, and its preparations in the city is on-going, the Pune administration has decided to keep the festivities a low key owing to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) crisis. Although Ganesh idols made of plaster of Paris (POP) are more popular, this year Puneities have been enthusiastically waiting to embrace a new trend which has picked up over the years– eco-friendly Ganesha.

For the past few years, the civic administration had been encouraging citizens to immerse idols at home or common water tanks in the society to avert the river pollution caused due to a large number of immersions that takes place every year. However, this time families in Pune have agreed and chosen to perform visarjan (idol immersion) at home to avoid stepping outside the home and practice social distancing. Many have been following video tutorials to build their own Ganesha.

In a unique initiative to battle the COVID pandemic, Amruta Andre of Mukund Nagar has started the initiative of do it yourself (DIY) Idol crafting kit. This kit comes with necessary materials such as Terracotta clay, plant, pot, seed, and fertilizer.”You can make your own Bappa at home by watching the video, and after the visarjan, you can use the same clay and grow a plant”, she explained.