VADODARA, INDIA, June 30, 2012 (Indian Express) With the police ban on the use of plaster of Paris (PoP) in Ganesha Deities, the icon makers in the city have decided to demand half the cost of an icon as advance from pandal organizers so as to reduce their loss in case the icons are not permitted to be installed at the last moment. The state Forest and Environment Department had banned the use of PoP in making Ganesha icons as it was harming the aquatic life in the water bodies in which the icons were immersed. Following the instructions of the department, city police in March issued notices to pandal organizers asking them to install only clay icons. However icons makers and pandal organizers had opposed the ban saying that PoP was the best material to make the large Ganesha icons and claimed that the festival would “lose it charm” without the icons. They had also expressed a concern that clay icons may break during the festival and such an incident would be considered an ill omen by the devotees.
There are around 150 registered icon makers in the city who make these Ganesha icons. The craftsmen have already started making the PoP icons for the annual Ganesha festival scheduled for September. A 10-feet tall icon can cost up to US$440.