The prospects of switching to environment friendly idols of Lord Ganesha has been met with a disappointing outcome as the production and sales of these clay idols have been hit owing to the floods that submerged parts of the city.
“We used to make the idols at home. With the floods submerging our house, all the idols we made have been damaged, costing us a lot of our effort and a loss of ₹7,000,” said S. Murali, who set up his shop in the One Town area.
“Every year there are a considerable number of people who buy the clay idols as well. After our idols were damaged in the floods, we did not have much time to make them again from the scratch,” rued Appala Naidu, a businessman.
“Despite taking all precautionary measures, our godown partly got submerged, damaging all the idols. We lost 150 idols to the floods and incurred a loss of ₹12 lakh. In the previous year, we sold around 2,000 idols, but now we could sell only 1,025 idols owing the floods,” said Raghuram Maguluri, whose organisation, Bhumi Organics, has been making these idols since two months.
Weather factor
Mr. Maguluri said the moisture in the air due to the ongoing weather had dampened their efforts of promoting eco-friendly Ganeshas. “The moisture impedes in the drying of idols, making it impossible for us to paint them. However, we somehow managed to obtain clay from the lakes and have been working hard to cater to the demand,” he added.
VMC fee
In a bid to promote eco-friendly Vinkayaka Chavitihi, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation had given permissions for free to organisers installing clay idols in the pandals, while those installing PoP ideols would have to pay ₹1,000 as municipal fee and and ₹500 for NOC at the grievance cell counter. VMC Commissioner, Prasanna Venkatesh appealed to the citizens to switch to eco–friendly idols in order to curb environmental pollution.
