Ranchi: An improvement in Ranchis weather on Thursday morning came as a silver lining for the citys idol makers who have been struggling to finish their idols for over a week and delivering them to the Durga Puja organising committees in the city and across Jharkhand within schedule.More than 10 idol-making workshops in Ranchi are working round-the-clock to prepare the idols of various dimensions.At Shilpayan, an idol-making workshop on Peace Road in Lalpur, Ajoy Pal and his craftsmen have been waiting for the rain to hold up so that they could ship the idols to puja committees in Jamshedpur and Barkakana. Pal said, I was supposed to deliver idols to two organising committees in Sidhgora in Jamshedpur and Barkakana on Monday but the rain foiled my plans.Pal and his men had been using blue lamps, also known as Halogen lamps, to help dry out the clay and hay idols amid the relentless downpours so that they could be ready for applying coats of paints.The heat from the lamps only help dry the surface of the idols but you need the sun to let them to dry from the inside, Sameer, an idol maker at the workshop, said. The sun came out for a brief period today after a week and so we kept the idols in open. Each idol usually takes a day to get painted, he added.The heavy rain has also left the idol makers cash-strapped. Nimai Chandra Pal, an idol maker who runs his workshop in Tharpakhna, said he is struggling to pay his team which he brought from West Bengal.Unlike previous years, these workers need to be paid their wages daily. I have been calling up the puja organisers and asking them to clear the dues. But most of them have been telling me that they do not have enough cash as collection of donations from business communities and households were hit due to the weather, Nimai said.Prem Kumar, the organizer of Durga Puja pandal near Karbala Chowk in Main Road, said, We usually pay our idol makers a token amount while placing the order each year. The full and final settlement is done once they deliver the idols right at the beginning of the festivities. For small budget Pujas like ours, the rain has played a spoilsport in collection of donations.We also published the following articles recently3 drown while immersing idolThree youths, including two brothers, drowned while immersing a Ganesh idol in Indore. They had gone to a mine filled with rainwater for the idol immersion and drowned when they went back inside to take a bath. Two of them were rescued by a nearby youth, but the others couldnt be saved. Similar incidents of drowning during idol immersion have been reported in other locations as well, highlighting the need for better safety precautions.Youth drowns while immersing idolA youth drowned while immersing a Lord Ganesh idol in Simrol, Indore. The incident occurred when the youth slipped and started drowning in a water body. Despite being rescued and rushed to the hospital, he passed away. In another incident, an unidentified mans body was found in the Gambhir river. These incidents highlight the lack of precautions during idol immersions, leading to similar accidents in other locations. Additionally, the immersion of Ganesh idols in Andhra Pradesh has contributed to the garbage problem in water bodies.Bathing man stumbles upon idol in CauveryA man discovered a metal idol of goddess Kaali in the Cauvery river near Musiri. The idol, weighing 1,620 kilograms and measuring 22 centimeters in height, was found stuck between the mans legs while he was bathing in the river. After informing the authorities, the idol was safeguarded at the sub-treasury office. Investigations are being conducted to determine the origin of the idol, which appears to be made of five metals. The idol was worshipped before being taken over by officials.

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