Rajasthani family of idol makers in city in dire straits after floods, request govt. help

Struggling idol maker family in Vijayawada faces financial crisis after floods, seeking help from government for compensation.

While the Dasara Navaratri celebrations are about to begin, the city is again in a festive mood and gradually moving on from the memories of suffering and loss during the floods in the first week of September. But, for Baburam Solanki and his family, in the business of making and selling idols, hard times do not seem to end.

While Baburam hails from Rajasthan, his family of eight people has been living near the Sitara Centre in Vijayawada for the past 25 years. Like every year, they sculpted 40 idols for Ganesh Chaturthi and spent ₹6 lakh on buying paints, brushes and other miscellaneous items required in making an idol. When the extremely heavy rain on August 30 and 31 brought the city to a standstill, their house, a small tent, where the idols were kept, was also filled with water.

“All the idols, made of mud, were damaged. We borrowed the ₹6 lakh from six people thinking we can return it once we get some money from selling the idols. Now, with everything damaged, we cannot repay them,” says Baburam, showing his bruised shoulders, which resulted from one of the lenders beating him up for not paying it on time.

He then went to Hyderabad and borrowed another ₹3 lakh to buy Durga idols. “These idols, too, are not selling. I got 32 idols from a seller but only 7 idols have been sold so far, most of them on Wednesday,” he says, adding that he is yet to count the money.

“We are all uneducated. We do not have any land in Rajasthan. Vijayawada has been our home for 25 years. But, when we asked officials if we will get any compensation, we were told we do not belong to this place,” Baburam said, adding that during the floods too, his family took shelter on an APSRTC bus, stationed near their tent, for four days.

No one came to see them or ask if they were doing okay, said Baburam’s wife, unwilling to be named. “Apart from idol-making, we do not know any other work,” she said, adding that the skill was passed on to them by their ancestors.

Now, Baburam’s four children, all aged between 6 and 14, too help them with making idols. They do not go to school. The eldest of them goes out every day to pick some plastic bottles or other scrap. He brings home ₹50-₹80. “We are buying some rice and curries from this money. We cannot have two meals a day,” Baburam said. They do not have a ration card.