Ganesh-utsav: An environmentally cathartic event?

Ganesh-utsav is currently being celebrated in full swing throughout India. The fervour has actually to be experienced to be understood. No doubt, celebrated throughout India, the zenith of celebrations can only be seen in Maharashtra – especially in Pune and Mumbai. However there is a huge environmental cost that is often paid during this festival – something that environmentalists are also gradually awakening to.

The Ganesh ustav is known to culminate on Anant Chaturthi, when, the number of immersions of Lord Ganesh idols in the water-bodies are the highest. Traditionally the idols were made from soil available near the households. However, with rising commercialization and profiteering needs, the soil for the idols got replaced with the lighter and cheaper gypsum based Plaster of Paris (PoP). As long as it was only crass commercialization it didn’t matter, but then considering PoP’s slow rate of degradation which consequently clogs the water bodies, reduces the Dissolved Oxygen levels as well as the aqua life, a whole new approach to revering Plaster of Parish Ganesh idols needs to be thought of.

The environmental aspect just does not stop at PoP Ganesh idols. Vegetable dyes, which are non-toxic were used to color the deities at one point of time. With passage of time, these were replaced with chemical based coloring agents that contained heavy metals like mercury, cadmium, chromium, copper, etc which are known reproductive and health hazards. When idols coated with these paints are immersed in water-bodies, the resultant effect on the aqua-life should be anyone’s guess. The sea, lining Mumbai’s coast alone takes in more than 1.5 lakh Ganesh idols during this 10 day festival. For those fishes that luckily survive to end up in the diet of humans, the effect of these chemicals would be manifested sooner or later in the higher end of the food-cycle. While these heavy metals also affect the flora and fauna of the water bodies, they also seep into the silt lining the water bodies, thereby affecting the very soil nearby as well. Also, other than the effect of the toxic heavy metals, just immersion of the idols along with the “nirmalya” is enough to reduce drastically the oxygen levels of the water body by 50%. No doubt, an environmental impact whose enormity is difficult to fathom.

Another type of pollution other than water is the noise pollution which however often gets masked by the nefarious after-effects of the water pollution. Loud blaring music and the live DJ’s (which are only noise and no music) throughout these 10 days of festivities are often a huge source of nuisance to the people exposed to them, who quite often put up with it only for not wanting to upset the religious fervor.

No doubt, laws exist for controlling both the noise and water-pollution activities, but if anyone dared to implement them strictly, he would be accused of being anti-Hindu and worse still, would not be elected the next time. Only a conscious and proactive public can actually bring about a change. Though some have already started with using clay idols and immersions in water pots at home, it is still time until the others too decide to catch on!

Image: ArtKnowledgeNews/BuzzinTown