Hyderabad: Seed Ganesh idols back in trend

Hyderabad: Ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi, eco-friendly seed Ganesh idol, an innovative drive for tree plantation and creating awareness on green environment, is back in the trend. This year's theme is to protect the environment and also combat with the current pandemic. Recently, Rajya Sabha MP Joginapalli Santosh Kumar, as part of the Green India Challenge, started a campaign of distributing Ganesh idols embedded with neem seeds to the citizens. Various online idol sellers and online nursery platforms have come up with the concept of making and selling seed Ganesh idols across India.

"Our organisation 'Plant a Plant' is an online nursery platform, since 2017 we are making and selling eco-friendly seed Ganesh idols. The main motto behind this initiative is to encourage to plant at least a single plant in the backyard. On the day of immersion, one can take the idol to their balcony, terrace, or backyard and like the way they water the plants, they can pour water on the idol. The idol will dissolve and in two to three days, the seed will germinate and within six to ten days a sappling will come out of it. The seed Ganesh idol parcel consists of a 7-inch idol along with 5 inch cup that includes coco peat and vermin compost. During the visarjan, you just have to place the idol in the cup. Then it has to be placed in your garden and pour water. The idol will melt to become soil. Within seven to ten days, a beautiful sapling will come out from this pure clay Ganesh idol. The seeds which we insert are vegetable seeds. Anybody who wants to buy can get at www.plantaplant.com," said Divyanjani, co-founder of Plant a Plant, Kukatpally.

"Last year our organization, Green Waves Environmental Solutions, has come up with an idea by using 21 leaves which are used to worship the Lord during Vinayaka Chaturthi. These seeds are used for making idols, which are not immersed in any water bodies but instead water is poured over the idol. Once the Ganesh idol dissolves, the seeds sprout and plants start to grow with seven to ten days depending on the temperature. For more information one can visit our facebook page," said P Anil Chowdary, Managing Director, Green Waves Environmental Solutions, Kukatpally.

"There is an urgent need to conserve water resources. In this context, we should be responsible for natural resources by using seed Ganesh idols during Vinayaka Chaturthi festival and after worshipping, the seed Ganesh idols can be immersed in a flower pot or a garden. Through this concept, the natural resources could be conserved up to some extent. Till today around 2000 idols have been booked across the country," said Ashok, founder of Seeds Ganapathy com, Tamil Nadu.

"As green Ganesh or seed Ganesh is in high demand, so this year we came up with an idea to make and sell seeds Ganesh.The idols have been made with clay mixed with vegetable seeds. "They will sprout within two to three days after the immersion in the flowerpot that would turn into a plant within six to ten days. The size of the idol is 6 inches along with pot and vermicompost. Various types of organic manures are used to make the Ganesh idol," said J Navakanth , Co-founder of Eco Kart, Vijayawada.

seed Ganesh idol prices

♥ 6 inch Ganesh idols - Rs 100

♥ 8 inch Rs 199 including shipping charges

♥ 9.5 inches for Rs 249

♥ 12 inches Rs 600

The seeds of plants

♥ Vegetable Climbers - Bottle Gourd, Round Gourd, Beans

♥ Vegetable plants - Ladies finger, Green chilies, Tomato, Brinjal

♥ Trees - Drumstick, Red bead, Rosewood

♥ Medicinal plants- Tulasi, Basil, Neem

♥ Flowering Plants- Devakanchan, Marigold, Sunflower, Water lily