Bhopal: In an eco-friendly measure, around 25 Hindu and Muslim woman prisoners of Bhopal Central Jail prepared eco-friendly idols of Ganesha for the first time. The clay idols of lord Ganesha of 10 inch, made by them will be displayed in the five-day exhibition-cum-sale at DB Mall on Friday.
Neena Shrivastava, instructor at Bhopal Central jail who is imparting the training to the prisoners for making the clay idol told Free Press, “We got directives from jail authority to make eco-friendly idols of lord Ganesha to save environment. We have been working on it for last 20 days. As many as 25 female prisoners including Hindus and Muslims have prepared 140 eco-friendly idols of Ganesha till now by using chalk clay and gum. The size of the idols is eight to 10 inches. The price range is from Rs 40 to Rs 50 per idol.”
Shrivastava said, “It is for the first time that we got chance to prepare eco-friendly Ganesha in normal pattern in which lord Ganesha is sitting on throne. If we get good response from customers, we will make more of them.” Besides, eco-friendly idols of lord Ganesha, a wide variety of handloom and handicraft items including dolls, paintings, doormats, towel, leather bags, wooden toys, furniture, bangles and idols, produced by inmates of six central jails of MP including Bhopal, Indore Gwalior, Rewa, Ujjain and Jabalpur will also be showcased in the expo.
Bhopal Central Jail superintendent Dinesh Nargave said, “To create awareness among people towards eco-friendly idols, we organised the training for the first time in jail. Still our target is to prepare around 200 eco-friendly idols of lord Ganesha. Not only this, we are displaying some other items in the exhibition, produced by inmates including men and women of six central jails of MP at DB Mall for the first time.”
“We use to organise exhibitions from time to time. The concept behind the exhibition is to showcase their creativity before public as well as to make them independent. It is also to create job and make market for them, so that they could earn money after being released from jail,” Nargave added.
