Even as the Ganesh Chaturthi festival is still nearly five months away, the officials of Telangana Government and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) were exercising their minds on how to implement the orders of the Hyderabad High Court imposing restrictions on the size of the idols and the material to be used in preparing them as well as on their immersion in historic Hussain Sagar lake.
A two judge Bench hearing a petition opposing the immersion of thousands of idols made of plaster of paris and chemical paints, has directed the State Government to ensure that only natural colors to be used and the height of the idols should be restricted to the range of 15 to 20 feet.
The other directions of the court include earmarking some areas of Hussain Sagar for the immersion on the lines of the steps taken by the Karnataka Government in respect of lakes in Bengaluru.
The State Government has assured the High Court that it will take up a massive campaign to create awareness and spend Rs5 crore on painting the Ganesh idols with natural colors.
Though the Bhagynagar Ganesh Utsav Samiti, controlled by the BJP and the affiliated organisations has been strongly opposing any restrictions on the size of the idols, the procession and the immersion in Hussain Sagar lake, the Government officials were now focusing their attention on the famous Khairatabad Mandap, known for installing the tallest idol in the State.
last year the Mandap had installed 59 feet tall idol and it had taken a lot of efforts to immerse it in the lake. Officials believe that if they were able to convince the Khairatabad Mandap committee to follow the High Court order, it will become easier to make other follow the suit.
Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav Committee, which has already started work on this year’s idol was discussing the new development. “The committee may cut down the size by one or two feet”, said Raj Kumar, organizing secretary. However the government officials say this will not be sufficient as all the idols will have to come within the limit set by the High Court.
Nearly 38 year old Ganesh festival procession in Hyderabad has developed it one of the biggest of its kind in the country as lakhs of people attend it and watch the immersion of nearly 25000 idols of various sizes in more than 400 years old Hussian Sagar lake in the heart of Hyderabad in addition to more such immersions in other such bodies.
The environmentalists argue that while the state government was spending billions of rupees on cleaning the highly polluted and stinking lake, the immersion of idols made of plaster of Paris, steels and chemical paints was adding to the pollution levels.