Eco-friendly Ganesh idols to save Mumbai's beaches

TO THE RESCUE: Orders for eco-friendly Ganeshas have come in from all over the world.

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Mumbai: The city’s beaches were never really clean but in a fortnight from now, things are going to go from bad to worse.

Bright, vibrant and lethal, the combination of lead in the paint and Plaster of Paris in the Ganesh idols make them a lingering lethal ecological problem.

But this problem also has a solution and some people hard at work at the workshop are part of it.

The trail begins at the Ram Naam Bank in Dadar, where the only deposit allowed are these books with the names of God written in them.

They are converted into paper pulp which is then transformed into beautiful paper mache Ganeshas.

"Ganesh idols made from paper pulp dissolves in water in maximum 8-10 hours. Whereas plaster of Paris takes more than 48 hours," said CEO, Aniruddha Samarpan Pathak, Sunil Mantri.

Orders for eco-friendly Ganeshas have come in from all over the world almost six months in advance. But if you are too late to pick up one and still want an eco-friendly celebration, here's another example to follow.

A chawl in Parel puts up a beautiful and intricate water colour sketch of the God on a wall and at the end of the festival, they simply wash it off.

“This was started by our elders and we are continuing with it because it reduces soil pollution,” said mandal member Raju S Kamasala.

Mumbai will say goodbye to over two lakh idols this year which is increasing every year. This makes the shift to eco-friendly Ganpatis all the more necessary.