GHMC plans for a green Ganesh Chaturthi

M T Krishna Babu, Commissioner, GHMC held a meeting with various non government organisations at Panwar Hall on Thursday. The commissioner informed that the GHMC would be providing open spaces for manufacturing, sale and distribution of green Ganeshas for a period of two to three months. The places identified would be litigation free. Permission will also be granted to NGOs 15 days prior to the festival either to put up free stalls or engage in cost to cost distribution of clay Ganesh idols. The commissioner also instructed all deputy commissioners to coordinate with the NGOs to utilise the parks for distribution of the Ganesh idols. He also informed that the GHMC will encourage clay Ganesh idol makers.

Idols made of clay are better in every aspect and the GHMC is taking up the cause to protect the environment from hazardous chemicals. The commissioner informed that the meeting was held mainly to create awareness among the citizens and also to motivate school children to actively participate in popularising the clay idols. The civic body will also provide mud/clay blocks for schools who came forward and preference would be given to government schools. He further directed the district collectors to coordinate with school education officials to get the schools registered for preparation of the clay idols.

The commissioner said that there should be some restriction in the size of the clay idol. Since the size of the idol is a sensitive issue, the government was not in a position to take a decision in this regard. He further stated that the government was spending around Rs 300 crore for regeneration of Hussainsagar Lake and even desilting is being taken up with a huge budget. L Vandan Kumar, Additional Commissioner (H&S), Assistant Medical Officers of Health (AMOHs), members of various non-governmental organisations and head masters of various schools participated in the meeting.