Every year, ‘Ganeshotsav’, the festival celebrated on the  birthday of Lord Ganesh,  is widely celebrated with euphoria, not only in India but also across the world.
 Why has the need for an Eco-friendly Ganesh idol arisen today? 

In earlier times, these idols  were made of biodegradable substances such as wood or loose soil.

 

The pages of Ramnaam books are soaked in water and converted into paper pulp. This pulp thus obtained is mixed with white ink and tree-based gum. This mixture is kneaded uniformly and is placed on the mould to give it an appropriate shape and form of an idol. Once dried, it is coloured using food-based dyes. These idols, on immersion, completely disintegrate in water and do not pollute the ecosystem.
  

Moreover, our organisation, ‘Shree Aniruddha Upasana Foundation’ had the opportunity to patent this novel method of producing an idol. However, the organization refused to do so, thus keeping it open to the public to create awareness about the environment. With each passing year, the response to this initiative has been overwhelming. 




 

Our organization has received appreciation from various quarters for this initiative: 

1. Received a Letter of Appreciation for three consecutive years from 2010 to 2012 from The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (or BMC), under its ‘Go Green Campaign’ and ‘Environment Friendly Ganpati’ initiatives.

In 2005, 335 idols were produced, which increased to 3000 later, and today the number ranges from 6000 to 7000 annually. In 2017, around 6500 such idols were installed in various households. These idols have not only been popular in India, but the devotees located in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the Middle East have also carried them home to worship and pray.