Bhopal preps up for eco-friendly Ganesha Chaturthi

As the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is around the corner, devotees are putting their best foot forward to welcome the elephant, God.

With increasing environmental concerns, many people prefer eco-friendly Ganesha instead of a plaster of Paris statue. Many social organizations have also come forward to promote and encourage this initiative. One such organization is 'Narmada Samagra' which is organizing a free workshop for training people to make their own eco-friendly Ganesha.

Elaborating on the initiative 'Let's make our own eco-friendly Ganesha,' Naveen, a member of this organization said, "Since 2008 we have been working for the conservation of the environment. From 1 September this year, we have started this self-making Ganesh idol workshop. We train people to make completely eco-friendly Ganesh idols and people from all sections of society take part in this workshop. This year we have taken the initiative one step further and are embedding some seeds also inside the Ganesh idol. These seeds will get to the soil after the immersion of Ganesh and would help in germinating a plant. Per day hundreds of people are coming here to learn how to make eco-friendly Ganesh".

One of the attendees of the workshop, Manju said, "The idols made of plaster of Paris are difficult to dissolve in water and they also pollute our water bodies. Hence I am making my own eco-friendly Ganesha here. It is our collective responsibility to save the environment".

Ganesh Chaturthi marks the birth of Lord Ganesh and is celebrated with much joy and fervour in many states of India. The date of the festival is decided as per Hindu calendar and this year the 10-day festival will be starting on 13th September.