Ganesha idol made from 100kg allum ( fitkari) by RCOEM Hostel students an ecofriendly approach
Nagpur: Taking a lead in environment protection, the students of Ramdeobaba Engineering College hostels went eco-friendly and installed an idol of Lord Ganesh made of Potassium alum (Fitkari in Hindi and Turti in Marathi) at Katol Road-based Ramdeobaba Mandir this year, too. The students install the idol of deity during the 10-Day Ganeshutsav. The students, with the help of College Management, try to install an ‘eco-friendly’ idol of Lord of Wisdom. Since the past three years, the students are installing the idol made of Potash alum, also known as Potassium alum and Potassium aluminium sulphate. And they did it quite successfully.
The concept of installing fitkari idol of Lord Ganesh was initially mooted by Adv Pradeep Agrawal who is working as Legal Consultant to Management of Ramdeobaba Engineering College. Adv Agrawal said that the idol was created with the help of Manewada-based Shivani Art and Bhandara-based fitkari manufacturers.
“The Lord Ganesh idol made of fitkari and installed at Ramdeobaba Mandir weighs around 100 kg and the base is about 80 kg. The entire material used in making the idol and the base is potassium alum. The Shivani Art, based on my concept, sculpted the idol in a mould. The making of the mould cost only Rs 15,000. The fitkari manufacturer of Bhandara provided 180 kg of fitkari free of cost as as a gesture towards eco-friendly idol. The fitkari was melted at the temperature of 120 degrees and put into the mould to give it the shape of Lord Ganesh idol, Adv Agrawal stated.
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Thursday 09 Jan. 2025
He further said that 10-15 such idols would be created from the mould in future and the idols would be supplied to the interesting persons “on demand” and on “no profit, no loss” basis. The idol of the deity will be immersed at Futala Lake. The immersion of this idol will not cause any sort of water and environment pollution, Adv Agrawal asserted.
Fitkari usage:
Fitkari is used in many home remedies and has many health benefits. The stuff has many health benefits and in Indian traditional health care system, Ayurveda used mostly. It is easily available in solid crystals form or pieces in the grocery shop at affordable price. Although it has with many health properties but there are some main uses of Alum in Ayurveda.
– Rajeev Ranjan Kushwaha (rajeev.nagpurtoday@gmail.com)
