The combined persuasion of festival organisers has ensured that the central government s ban on plaster of paris for making moortis is yet to take effect.
Naresh Dahibawkar, president of the Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti, said, We had approached BJP leader Ashish Shelar to intervene. We said the central government should have consulted all stakeholders before formulating such an important policy. In the absence of a viable alternative for mass manufacturing Ganesh idols, mandals will be bereft of idols and moortikars will permanently lose their livelihood after an already tiresome lockdown. The Maghi Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti also made a similar request. So the PoP ban has been kept in abeyance for now, he added.