A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the State government and the police to restrict the number of idols permitted to be installed in public places during the Vinayaka Chaturthi celebrations and reduce the number of days for which the idols could be kept on display.
When the matter came up before a Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanaryanan and M. Sundar on Monday, they ordered notices to government officials and directed the High Court Registry to tag the case along with another PIL petition filed last week by activist ‘Traffic’ K.R. Ramaswamy with a plea to confine the celebrations to temples and marriage halls.
The latest petition filed by advocate M. Subash, 26, alleged that too many organisations and individuals were allowed to install the idols on roadsides and other public places and that most of them use plaster of Paris and other toxic chemicals to make the idols though the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board insists on using nothing but clay in the interest of protecting the environment.
Contending that the idols would be installed on Friday and taken on a procession only on September 3, a day after Bakrid, for immersion in the sea, the petitioner apprehended that it could lead to communal tension.
He sought for a direction to the officials concerned to frame guidelines for the celebrations and reduce the number of days for which the idols could be kept on display.