Paper Ganesh Idol At Dabha
Artist Shashank Turankar and his team took 28 days to create the idol after finalising the design and beginning work on August 17.
“Around 1.5 tonnes of steel were used for the structural framework, while special paper procured from Mumbai was used to create the idol,” organiser Rajkumar Gupta said. Gupta said devotees have been asked to bring water from rivers or holy water kept in their puja rooms. Since the paper is water-soluble, it will eventually decompose and become part of the soil, the organisers said.
The mandal has also planned an immersion process designed to ensure that the paper idol eventually becomes part of the soil instead of generating conventional immersion waste. The collected water will be placed in a pot and used for the idol’s puja and Panchamrit rituals before Visarjan. The consecrated water will then be collected in a tanker and used to fill a specially prepared tank. A pit will be dug at the site, where the steel framework will be removed.