PUNE: The state government may consider National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) methods for immersion of Plaster of Paris (PoP) Ganesha idols.Senior officials from the environment department have shown interest in the process and want to initiate it in all the local bodies, sources said.“We are waiting for a proposal from the NCL scientists. We will study the process and use it as it has been successfully used by some civic bodies,’’ an official from the department said.The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Nagpur have been doing so for three years. It was also taken up by villages in many parts of the state and in Karnataka.NCL’s principal scientist (catalysis and inorganic chemistry division) Shubhangi Umbarkar will urge the state government to put to use this technique.“Without hurting the sentiments of devotees, PoP idols can be immersed in a solution of ammonium bicarbonate converting it into ammonium sulphate which remains dissolved in water and calcium carbonate which settles at the bottom as a solid. Ammonium sulphate is a good fertilizer and can be used for watering plants whereas calcium carbonate can be used as a raw material for making chalks or as an additive in the cement industry for making bricks and sheets,’’Umbarkar said.NCL’s two tanks of 5,000 litre capacity on its premises help nearby societies immerse their idols.At home, devotees need only a bucket or a container of water. They can add ammonium bicarbonate in the proportion of the weight and size of the idol and once the idol is immersed in this solution it will dissolve in 48 hours, the scientist said.NIBM corporator Nanda Lonkar has sent out messages to her voter base about providing ammonium bicarbonate for an eco-friendly immersion.

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