Hyderabad: The Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Mandir at Sai Baba Officers Colony in Sainikpuri has not only turned eco-friendly in making a three-feet clay Ganesh idol, but they have also used nature friendly methods in immersing their idol.
Instead of using a lake or a water body and adding to the existing pollution, they chose to immerse the Ganesh idol in a tub of fresh water and distributed that water to the people of the colony to sprinkle as a good omen. Not just the temple authorities, many residents in their houses also used clay Ganesh idols this year and immersed it too in their own homes.
The temple, which usually flaunts a six to seven feet idol, made of Plaster of Paris, used clay for the first time. Sai Baba Mandir Committee, Secretary, Sundar Babu said, “Along with the immersion of the idol in the temple premises, we used a clay Ganesh for the first time. This decision received a lot of positive response from the people. Now, we also have a lot of self-satisfaction since we are contributing to the environment, without losing our tradition. The temple also witnessed huge footfall this year comparatively.”
Many of the residents have also followed the same method. Since the Kapra Lake has turned into a sewage pool and is filled with dirty water, there were awareness campaigns on social media platforms urging people not to immerse their idols in the Kapra Lake.
Secretary of the Federation of Northeastern Colonies of Secunderabad (FNECS), C S Chandrashekar said, “As a collective motive, most of our colony members have followed the same method during the festival. Be it the type of idol or the immersion procedure, they maintained eco-friendly methods.”
