Ranchi: With Durga Puja preparations gathering pace, the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) has urged organisers, urban local bodies (ULBs) and district administrations to celebrate responsibly and protect water bodies.In an appeal issued on Monday, JSPCB member secretary Rajeev Lochan Bakshi asked organisers to choose idols made of non-toxic clay and avoid baked clay, plaster of Paris, resin fibre and thermocol. It suggested idols stuffed with food materials such as spinach, wheat and vegetable powder. Decorations, it said, could use organic colours made from turmeric and sandalwood.To keep pandal areas clean, organisers have been directed to install three-bin waste segregation systems. Organisers have been advised to use earthen pots, paper cups and traditional leaf plates.The board said flowers, leaves, clothes and other decorative material must be removed from idols before immersion and placed in colour-coded bins. ULBs and district administrations have been asked to create temporary immersion ponds with earthen bunds to keep waste out of rivers and lakes. Water quality must be tested before any supernatant is released into natural ecosystems.Civic bodies will also have to remove immersion residue from water banks within 24 hours. ULBs may regulate idol height depending on the capacity of local water bodies.Ranchi Municipal Corporation officials said designated immersion points would be prepared near ponds, with separate spaces for idols and puja materials. The clean-up, they added, would be completed within 24 hours.Residents have been urged to buy clay idols, use designated tanks or immerse idols at home, and never dump puja waste in plastic bags into public water bodies.Environmentalist Nitish Priyadarshi welcomed the appeal but questioned its timing. “Construction is already midway, so adopting eco-friendly pandals and idols may not be feasible now,” he said, stressing that such directives should be issued well in advance and followed up.
