Mumbai: Group of teens restore idols dumped at Dadar beach

Members of the Dadar Beach cleanup drive have begun a new initiative under the beach cleaning drive. Beach Please — a self-funded group of teenagers will, under the Murti Daan initiative, restore the idols of deities found in the beach during the cleaning. The group plans on selling the restored idols to interested buyers.

Leading the initiative is Dadar-based Malhar Kalambe, 20. "When we started the beach cleanup, we found a lot of idols lying in the dirt but most of them were in a good state. These idols finally land up in a dumping yard so instead of that we thought of rescuing these idols. Till now we have rescued at least 15 idols. Some of them were restored and we gifted them to the interested people. Couple of them are installed in a few temples in the city."

The group had recently found the idol of the deity Nandi weighing around three kilograms, which was installed in a temple later. "We had found around 30 to 35 idols till now but most could not be restored. Indians believe in God and religion and yet to treat our deities such that we dump them is wrong. This sentiment drove us to restore the idols," said Kalambe.