As Maharashtra gets ready to celebrate the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, artisans in Mumbai are crafting an eco-friendly paper idol of Lord Ganesha.

This impressive 18-foot-tall idol of Lord Ganesh, made entirely from eco-friendly paper, is a significant departure from traditional Plaster of Paris (POP) idols. Sanket, President of the Elphinstone Ganesha festival organizing committee, explained the initiative: "For the past 34 years, we have been celebrating the Lord Ganesha festival, and for the last two years, we have been creating these 18 to 19-foot eco-friendly paper idols, following the lead of the Lalbaugcha Raja Ganesh Chaturthi festival organizers. We've used 200 to 250 kilograms of paper to create these idols, and it takes three months to prepare them."