Authorities Confiscate 105 Ganpati Idols Made of Plaster of Paris in Dharwad
Dharwad, EXPRESS News: In a stringent enforcement action, the Dharwad district administration, in collaboration with the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation and local police, seized 105 Ganpati idols made of Plaster of Paris (POP) at Gandhi Chowk in Dharwad city. The crackdown is part of an ongoing effort to enforce the district’s ban on POP idols, which has been imposed to curb environmental pollution.
The inspection, carried out by the ward task force, took place yesterday evening at Gandhi Chowk and Hebballi Agasi Road. During the operation, officials discovered that Laxmanrao More was selling what appeared to be traditional clay Ganpati idols. However, upon closer examination, there was suspicion that the idols were not purely made of clay but instead contained a mixture of POP.
To confirm this suspicion, a sample idol was collected and sent to a laboratory for chemical analysis. The results of the test confirmed that all the idols in question were indeed made of POP. Acting on this confirmation, the task force promptly seized the 105 idols that were up for sale.
The operation was led by Jagadish I.H., Regional Officer of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, Assistant Commissioner Mahesh Halagi, Environmental Engineer Avinash, Senior Health Inspectors Pratima and Shantagouda Biradar, along with police officers ASI S.B. Halli and H.F. Nadaf.
