PANAJI: The Goa Handicrafts Rural and Small Scale Industries Development Corporation Limited has urged the State Government to impose a blanket ban on use of plaster of Paris idols during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival to prevent the damage to the environment.

Conveying the decision of the Board of Directors at its meeting on Friday, Chairperson Victoria Fernandes told presspersons that the immersing of idols made of plaster of Paris had been found to be environmentally hazardous to water bodies.

According to a rough estimate, around 35,000 to 40,000 Ganesh idols were immersed annually. Of them, around 40 per cent were made of plaster of Paris.

The corporation had been supporting clay Ganesh idol making activity for some years. The board had decided to subsidise this activity by giving 25 per cent subsidy to the artisans, she said. The corporation sold around 800 idols through its emporia across the State last year.

Secretary of Science and Technology V.K.Zha said that the North and South Goa District Collectors had been instructed to keep a strict vigil on the "import" of the plaster of Paris for Ganesh idols.

The Goa State Pollution Control Board had also been sounded to take strict view of this issue.

Managing Director of the corporation Nikhil Desai said this would promote local artisans who make artistic idols of clay but find it difficult to compete with the idols made of plaster of Paris.

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