INDIA, July 27, 2017 (The Hindu): Despite the clamour for environment friendly Ganesh statues, clay statue-makers are finding it difficult to find customers. Traditional potter families say that the flooding of plaster of Paris statues and mass produced by molds, have reduced the market share of clay statues. “All this talk of eco-friendly Ganesh statues, without paint and harmful chemicals, is humbug,” says Maruti Jyotiba Kumbar, who is busy making clay Ganesh statues by hand, in a small shop near the Kapileshwar temple.
“Environmentalists keep talking about such things. But such statements are yet to catch the people’s fancy. Even the Belagavi City Corporation puts out advertisements asking people to stop using statues made of plaster. But all this is yet to sink in,” he said. “At least 50,000-60,000 families may be buying statues and performing puja in their homes in Belagavi. I am sure nine out of 10 statues are made of plaster of Paris,” he said.