Hyderabad: Metropolis-based artisans heaved a sigh of aid because the Telangana Excessive Courtroom didn’t subject an order proscribing using plaster of Paris (PoP) in making idols of deities, for Ganesh Chaturthi and Durga Puja, on the grounds that the state authorities has not issued a authorities order banning or prohibiting the identical.

The case pertains to a PIL filed by artisan our bodies towards tips issued by the central air pollution management board, banning using PoP in idols. 

A division bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice S. Nanda, adjourning the case till September, when the legality of the CPCB tips can be assessed, nonetheless, said that the Telangana authorities ought to subject a G.O. on different preparations for immersing Ganesh idols manufactured from PoP and different supplies — versus Hussainsagar and different lakes — by August 31, earlier than the beginning of the Ganesh Chaturthi. 

The Excessive Courtroom cited tips of the Supreme Courtroom to not enable immersion of PoP idols in lakes, and instructed the state to create child ponds prematurely for immersing such idols.

The court docket additionally declined the state authorities’s request to cap the peak of idols at 4 toes, faulting the federal government for not issuing a round or order by March, primarily based on earlier judgments of the Excessive Courtroom within the matter.

The court docket directed the state authorities to peruse the rules issued by the West Bengal authorities for the immersion of Durga idols.

Of their arguments, the petitioners within the case — Telangana Ganesh Murthi Kalakar Welfare Affiliation of Dhoolpet, Lodh Kshatriya Sadar Panchayat and different particular person artisans — requested the court docket to declare the ban on PoP imposed by CPCB unlawful, on the grounds of not having jurisdiction. Additional, they requested the court docket to restrain air pollution authorities, GHMC and police from interfering within the idol-making course of.

The CPCB issued the rules on the grounds that immersion of PoP idols would pose a risk to waterbodies as PoP doesn’t dissolve in water.

Nonetheless, the petitioners countered that the PoP was not a pollutant and that gypsum minerals, which strengthen PoP, account for just one per cent of the substance in comparison with different supplies like cement and people utilized in hospitals.

Additional, the petitioners’ counsel stated that failure to supply rapid aid would have an effect on the livelihood of artisans, who’re depending on the festive season.

After the petitioners introduced it to the discover of the court docket that the state has not issued orders to this point, the court docket allowed them to make use of PoP in idols. 

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