Demand for green Ganesh kits soars

Organisations receive many orders for them as people want to celebrate festival in eco-friendly way

With a ban on community celebrations this year on Vinayaka Chaviti, the popularity of clay Ganesha idols has soared as home festivities take an eco-friendly turn. A number of city-based organisations have come forward with Ganesh kits that are environment-friendly where the clay idols can be immersed in pots at home itself.

The trend of eco-friendly Ganesh kits that started last year during the COVID-19 pandemic has seen many takers this year.

Lambodara Vizag, a pan India initiative, received over 1,100 orders this year for its compact eco-friendly Ganesh kit that contains a clay idol, plant seeds, vermi-compost, cocopeat, incense sticks, sandalwood powder, camphor, kumkum and turmeric powder and jute pot. All these come packed in a paper box.

The initiative was also backed by director Krish Jagalarmudi and actor and politician Roja Selvamani who shared their videos on the initiative in Instagram. “We are delivering the kits at the doorsteps. This year the response has been overwhelming for these kits,” said R.M. Surya Rao of Lambodara Vizag.

N. Sravani has been inundated with calls during the past 24 hours for the eco-friendly Ganesh kits.

Her initiative of GoGiftGreen4Vizag got over 500 orders in the past couple of days.

“We had limited stocks and this year the demand for them has soared. Many families are preferring to get the entire kit home delivered as it saves them the hassles of going to the market to fetch puja paraphernalia,” said Ms. Sravani. Other organisations like Bhagavatula Charitable Trust are also delivering eco-friendly kits at home.

Meanwhile, the rains played a spoilsport for roadside clay idol vendors who depend on last minute sales. “We were hopeful that this year we will somehow manage to sell the idols as the community celebrations are banned and most people will look to pick up the smaller idols. However, due to the heavy rains in the last two days, we are struggling to get customers,” said S. Lakshmi, a vendor at Poorna Market.

The mood at Kumara Veedhi was similar where the clay idol makers struggled to dry the freshly made idols due to the rains.

“We are hoping that the weather clears up on Thursday and people come out to buy,” says Nookalamma, the daughter-in-law of a traditional potter at Kumara Veedhi.

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