Mumbai Mayor installs Class 2 student’s clay Ganpati at official residence

Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde installed a handmade Shadu clay Ganpati by Class 2 student Ritik Paswan at her official residence on Monday.

Ritik, who studies at BMC-run Prabhadevi Municipal School, presented the small idol to Tawde last week. Tawde invited him and his mother to the puja and selected his work for the residence’s Ganesh installation.

The bungalow was decorated with flowers and other eco-friendly materials. The installation follows other BMC efforts to encourage handmade clay idols, including a workshop where Mumbai students learnt to shape clay Ganpatis.

Tawde said she had reviewed Mumbai’s chowpattys, natural water bodies and artificial immersion ponds four days earlier. She said nearly 358 artificial ponds had been prepared for immersion, in line with a High Court direction that idols under six feet be immersed in artificial ponds.