Pandal for a greener cause
Pritesh Basu
KOLKATA, Sept. 27: With an aim to spread awareness among Puja revellers about saving trees, a Durga Puja committee in Howrah has plans to welcome people with the theme of afforestation, this year.
Pandal hoppers will have to traverse through a 40-metre long cave to reach the main mandap. The cave, with its special light and sound effects, will also have a digital arrangement to show the different kinds of plants and their utility in our daily life.
Once visitors reach the main pandal, they will come across a huge banyan tree with fibrous roots which nearly touch the ground. “We are aiming to set up an artificial banyan tree akin to the 200-year-old banyan tree in the botanical garden at Shibpur in Howrah. The real tree in the botanical garden covers an area of around 200 metres radius but it will not be possible for us to create such a huge tree. Hence, we have decided to settle for a kind of canopy with branches of the banyan tree and this will cover an area of nearly 20 metres,” said Mr Dilip Sinha, assistant secretary of Howrah Shibtala Durga Utsab Committee.
It will also be interesting to see four more trees ~ mango, neem, sal and teak ~ under the canopy. The Durga idol will be placed in front of the banyan tree, while Ganesha's idol will be placed in front of the mango tree, Lakshmi will be placed in front of the sal tree, idols of Saraswati and Kartik will be placed in front of the teak and neem trees respectively.
The artisan, Mr Nimai Ghosal said that in order to keep to the theme of afforestation, the idols will be made in such a way that it will seem that the idols have been carved out of logs. Mr Ghosal further said: “Though it may look like the idols and other parts of the pandal has been made from wood but no wood has actually been used. I used plastic of paris and cement paint to construct the pandal and the idols.”
An organiser said that since many small and medium scale industries and a couple of large scale industries might be set up in the district, deforestation is an important issue. “Hence, it is our attempt to create awareness to preserve the tree,” he added. source: http://www.thestatesman.net
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