The 11-day Vinayaka Chaviti festivities will be commencing from Wednesday in the twin cities and pandal organisers are making elaborate arrangements to celebrate the festival with fervour and gaiety.
While many pandal organisers continue to install conventional idols made of plaster of Paris, a few of them are installing huge clay Ganesha idols in their bid to propagate the usage of eco-friendly idols.
Youngman Youth Association near Goshala, Lower Tank Bund is installing a 30-foot-tall idol and Future Foundation Society at Shalibanda has come up with a 25-foot idol. Both happen to be prepared from clay as also another tall idol being planned at Durgam Cheruvu.
“The idea is to spread the message of using clay idols. Khairatabad Ganesh is very popular because of its height and people visit from far off places to seek the blessings of the Lord. Hence, we wanted to install a 30-foot-tall clay idol to draw attention of many people,” says P. Murali, president of Youngman Youth Association.
Lot of effort has gone into installing these really big idols.
Artisans were invited from Kolkata and the work commenced last month. “Sans a touch of chemicals, only water colours are being used to make the idol look more appealing,” explains Sai Dutt Chandan of Future Foundation Society.
Huge expenditure
It is not just manual effort, but pandal organisers are also investing about Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 4 lakh in these clay idols. And the emphasis is on making people realise the adverse impact of chemicals and other materials in making the idols, he adds.
Many resident welfare associations too are installing clay idols this year. According to Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, about 200 associations were provided with 5-foot-tall clay idols and another 25,000 one-foot idols to individual families.
The GHMC also claims to have presented 100 clay idols to each corporator to be distributed in his or her respective divisions. “Since last two years we have been installing clay idols provided by the HMDA. This apart, we are distributing 300 small idols to our members as a means to promote clay idols,” says J.S.T Sayi, secretary of Model Colony Association at Erragadda.
