Limit height of Ganesh idols for mandals to 5ft, city association tells sculptors

The Brihanmumbai Ganesh Murtikar Sangh, an umbrella association of more than 700 idol makers in Mumbai, has instructed sculptors to not make idols taller than five

The Brihanmumbai Ganesh Murtikar Sangh, an umbrella association of more than 700 idol makers in Mumbai, has instructed sculptors to not make idols taller than five feet for mandals, and limit the height of household idols to two feet, instead of the conventional two-and-a-half feet.

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Idol makers said transporting larger idols will be difficult owing to the lack of enough manpower, as they have not received any directions on how many people will be allowed to gather for the celebrations owing to the coronavirus outbreak.

Some members from the association have raised concerns over the non-allotment of space by the civic body to set up their stalls. Until last year, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) would issue permissions three months prior to the festival to sculptors to make Ganpati idols at designated footpaths and other public spaces.

“We met the police commissioner and he expressed his concerns over idol makers facing losses this year owing to the lockdown. As of now, we have asked our members to restrict the height of the Ganpati idols. We are also instructing them to make idols of clay so that devotees can carry out immersions at home if outdoor provisions cannot be made owing to the outbreak,” said Gajanan Tondwalkar, president of the association.

Tondwalkar added that they got clearance to bring five containers of shadu clay from Gujarat only last week.

“Though we have finally got shadu (clay), we don’t have workers nor do we have colours to paint the idols. Also, if the orders come like they did in the past years at the last moment, I doubt if we will be able to meet the demand. All these years, we would make additional idols, but this year due to the lockdown, we have limited number of idols,” said Rupesh Narvekar, who owns Om Morya Chitra Mandal workshop at Chembur. Though they had started making idols for this year’s celebrations, the lockdown has delayed their work. “We now make idols at home as we can’t go to the workshop due to the lockdown. Despite working from home, these idols will not dry soon due to monsoon,” he said.

Some communities have decided to even postpone celebrations at their home, but many are keen on holding the celebrations with limited family members.

Each year, around 11,000 large idols and 1.6 lakh household idols are made in the city using Plaster of Paris (PoP), while 75 large idols and 40,000 household idols are made from clay. Around 250 paper idols are made for the 11-day festival.