Bhubaneswar, Aug 20: Several puja committees of the twin cities are coming up with innovative idols and pandals while maintaining environment-friendly standards this Ganesh Chaturthi.

There will be more than 500 Ganesh puja celebrations across Bhubaneswar and Cuttack the coming Friday.

A "Sarvamukhi Ganesh" idol is being crafted at Saheed Club Mandap in Saheed Nagar. This 22-ft idol will have 21 heads and 42 hands holding weapons in each of them.

Around 15 artists from Calcutta have been working on the idol for the last 45 days. "We wanted to do something different this year. Ganesh puja has become a popular festival in the state and we wanted to offer something different to the people this year," said president of the club Biswaranjan Ray.

"This year, we are making prasad sevan (offering food to people that is blessed by the Lord) arrangement for more than 10,000 people. We will also put on use a special robot for offering laddoo prasad among devotees. One will have to insert a Re 1 coin at the coin deposit counter fitted in the robot to get the prasad," he added.Eco-friendly concepts are dominating most other puja pandals across the twin cities. A number of puja organisers have decided not to use polythene materials and synthetic paints in the idols and pandals. They are using only bio-degradable items, such as jute and hay, to make the idols. They are also using organic colours for the idols instead of synthetic paints.

"Many idol makers use toxic colours as they are cheap, easily available and shinier. But these colours contain elements such as mercury, cadmium, lead and carbon. For years, artisans have been applying toxic paint on clay idols without knowing about the environmental hazards these chemicals pose when the idols are immerses in rivers and lakes. But, we are using eco-friendly colours made from natural resources for the idols," said Ashish Senapati, a member of a youth club at Nayapalli.

The organisers of a club at Khandagiri have also refrained from using any synthetic colours. A puja committee at Bomikhal is using jute sticks to create their pandal.

That apart, they have also made use of natural plants and paper decorations to enhance the ambience inside the pandal. The puja committees will also host a number of activities such as cultural evenings, bhajan samaroh and competitions. Fairs have also come up in various locations in the city.