Overview
- More than 10,000 students simultaneously sculpted shadu clay Ganesh idols at a mega workshop in Vashi, an event on Thursday that Guinness World Records adjudicators confirmed as a record and that was organised by Maharashtra’s Environment and Climate Change Department.
- Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and other officials used the event to urge citizens to avoid Plaster of Paris idols and chemical paints and to adopt smaller, biodegradable idols to protect lakes and rivers.
- Film stars including Pooja Hegde, Vijay Deverakonda and Chiranjeevi have accepted and promoted seed-embedded 'Seed Ganesha' idols distributed by the Green India Challenge to amplify the message of home immersion and sapling growth.
- Local administrations have issued operational rules for the festival, with Thane banning DJ systems and setting loudspeaker hours and Hyderabad’s Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi confirming installations from September 14 and mass immersion on September 25 at designated sites coordinated with civic bodies.
- Pune trusts are supplying idols for public celebrations in Jammu & Kashmir despite reported threats to organisers, and campaigners stress that seed Ganesha idols—made of clay, cocopeat and native seeds—are meant for soil immersion so the clay dissolves and seeds can germinate into saplings, reducing long-term water pollution.