Four years after National Green Tribunal prohibited the use of Plaster of Paris for making idols, the ban is being openly flouted across the city.
Idol sellers have a market to cater to, and any number of warnings and bans don’t seem to make a difference. On my visit to east Delhi’s Patparganj and Samaspur, I witnessed hundreds of Ganesha idols made of PoP, in different shapes and sizes, sold at makeshift stalls.
Majority of the sellers we spoke to admitted that they were aware of the ban is more alarming.
Quick-setting gypsum plaster, also known as Plaster of Paris, is insoluble and forms a concrete-like layer on the waterbed, making it difficult for groundwater to recharge.
Various chemicals, including lead and arsenic, from these materials, get consumed by fish, which, in turn, can cause respiratory ailments, skin infections and even cancer among humans.
That seems to bother neither the sellers nor the buyers, though.
At Samaspur Jagir village, the potential toxicity of PoP idols was apparently not a concern. People want them because they look good with shine and glitter. And they are cheaper too.
