108-KG Gold-Coated Silver Ganesh Idol Draws Crowds In Jalna

Jalna: A 108-kg silver Ganesh idol coated with gold and valued at around ₹4 crore was installed with religious fervour at the Shri Anokha Ganesh Mandal in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj area on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi.

According to founder Ajay Bhartiya, the idol was originally crafted in 2023 using 107 kg of pure silver and was then valued at around ₹90 lakh. Over the years, the value of the silver increased, while the mandal also added 50 tolas of gold to the idol, taking its present weight to 108 kg and its estimated value to around ₹4 crore.

“The idol was crafted at Vishwakarma in Khamgaon. Over the last four years, as the value of silver increased, we continued to enhance the idol and added 50 tolas of gold to make it more attractive for devotees,” Bhartiya said.

He said thousands of devotees visit the mandal every year during the Ganesh festival. The mandal also organises various social programmes during the festival.

He said this year's celebrations will feature decorative tableaux, prasad and other attractions for devotees and families. The idol is kept at a secure location throughout the year and is brought out and installed at the mandal premises during the Ganesh festival, he said.

During the installation ceremony, devotees and mandal members danced to the beats of traditional sambal drums and raised slogans of “Ganpati Bappa Morya, Mangal Murti Morya”. Fireworks were also set off during the procession.

Industrialists Ramniwas Mandhana, Rahul Agrawal, Anil Goyal, mandal president Ritesh Mishra, Atul Mantri, Sanjay Agrawal, Yogesh Mandhani, Gopal Mandhana, Jagdish Mundada, Purushottam Bhakkad, Rajesh Agrawal, Rajkumar Dayama, Hemant Thakkar and Ganesh Tiwari were among those present. A large number of devotees and mandal members attended the ceremony.