Surat: Woman makes eco-friendly lord Ganesha idol using soap

Surat (Gujarat) [India]: A woman artist from Gujarat’s Surat carved out an eco-friendly idol of Lord Ganesha using soap ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi.

Aditi Mittal said she had been making such idols for the last six years.

“Over the last six years, I have been making eco-friendly Ganesha idols. This year, I thought of carving out Ganesha idols by imbibing PM Modi's 'Swachta Abhiyan’,” Mittal told media.

“I made the idol using soap. A total of 2,655 kg of soap was used in the making of this idol. It took us a total of seven days to make it," said Mittal.

Another Bhubaneswar-based miniature artist, L Eswar Rao, also crafted eco-friendly idols of lord Ganesha along with goddesses Saraswati and Laxmi on solid clay.

Speaking to media, Rao said, "For the last 22 years, I have been creating miniature art on penile nib, chalk, turmeric seed, inside the bottle and many more. I have crafted eco-friendly idols of lord Ganesha along with goddess Saraswati and Laxmi ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi, which is a famous festival of Odisha's Jatni village in Khurda district."

"I have also created a pandal using matchsticks and solid clay, where I installed idols of lord Ganesha and goddess Saraswati and Laxmi. It took me seven days to complete the idols and decorative pandal," Rao told media.

"The height of the Ganesha idol is 3.5 inches whereas the idols of goddesses Saraswati and Laxmi are about 3 inches tall. The pandal housing the deities is 9 inches tall from bottom to top," Rao added.

Meanwhile, to spread the message of environmental conservation, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and 'Big Green Ganesha' on Monday launched 'Eco-Friendly Ganesha' idols in the city.

Mayor Shelly Oberoi flagged off the 'Eco-Friendly Ganesha' Rath from the Civic Center today. Now 'Eco-Friendly Ganesha' idols will be available in all areas of the national capital.