Solar Ganpati that dissolves barriers

Pathan says he has used 600 LEDs to make the entire structure. He says the idols can be customized to suit people’s needs. He is touring mandals in Pune and Mumbai to showcase the product.

The practical application of classroom theory in day-to-day lives to benefit people is something that has inspired Pathan. The solar battery fascinates him.

He says,“The solar battery takes around six to seven hours to get fully charged. It can power a household for 25 hours at one go.”

A resident of Janwadi,Pathan (40),a BSc electronics graduate from Shrirampur,has built a memory card/thumb drive slot into the Ganpati unit and it can play 101 “aartis” on a loop. “The idea is to create a portable pandal in itself,” he says.

He has already received around 25 orders from individuals as well as mandals in the city. He says,“A two-foot-high solar Ganpati costs Rs 17,000. That is the cost of the model we built. We can customise and alter the sizes,which can bring cost down to Rs 1,200. Our production facility in Ahmednagar is capable of handling around 20 orders a month. As of now,the target is to sell at least 100 units a year.

Pathan says that after the festival,he will donate the model to the Dagdusheth Halwai Trust. “It is one of the most popular mandals in Pune. We will donate the first one we made to them,as a mark of our devotion and faith,” he says. Incidentally,he had a few years back donated the biggest emergency lamp to the mandal.