How does Government take care of Lord Ganesha?

Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most important festivals in India. The hype and frenzy surrounding the festival is palpable with an array of pandals lined up across the city. Over the period of 10 days, pandals organise pujas on a daily basis. They also become a source of entertainment for the residents with many cultural programmes and even movies being showcased until the wee hours. The immersion day is when the city comes alive with many pandals flocking to the Tank Bund Road to immerse the Ganesh idols. Infact, C V Anand, Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad, expects a minimum of 10,000 idols to be immersed at the Hussain Sagar Lake. So how does the city successfully organise Ganesh festivities over a period a 10 days without many glitches, year after year? Hyderabad Hans takes a look

TSS Siddharth

The city of Hyderabad is gearing up for Ganesh Chaturthi festivities which will begin from September 9 and end on September 18 with the immersion of all the idols. The clamour that this festival deserves is very evident and the excitement is captured within the populace of the city. For the initial days of the festival, the pujas and other programmes takes place indoors. It is only during the time of the immersion that the city’s roads become chock-a-block with idols being carried on trucks to be immersed in water bodies with revellers dancing along the entire stretch. For the past few years, Tank Bund has been an ideal spot for devotees to immerse the idols.

The city’s largest idol, which is placed at Khairatabad is also immersed in the Hussain Sagar lake. During the day of the immersion, all the streets which lead to Tank Bund are diverted and only Ganesh pandals are allowed to traverse the road. The stretch of Tank Bund is littered with cranes which lift the idols and submerge it into the lake.

Festivities that take place in such magnitude require the support and co-operation of civic bodies and departments which man the city for a hassle-free conclusion of the festival. This year most of the civic bodies have shared the responsibilities amongst themselves. This step has been taken to ensure, that no institution is burdened with wholesome responsibility. Hyderabad Hans takes a look into each department’s roles and responsibilities.

GHMC: City’s municipal corporation has taken charge of the garbage collection process during the course of the festivities especially, during the time of the immersion. The GHMC has also begun setting up focus lights along the Tank Bund stretch. These focus lights are meant for the illumination requirements during the immersion period. A source at the civic body said that they have acquired a few more garbage collection vehicles to help speed up the process as they are expecting 1000-2000 tonnes of excess garbage on the day of immersion. They will also be deploying extra vehicles to places like Saroornagar and Prakash Nagar as lot of idol immersions takes place there. They have also been ordered to clear garbage by the next day and have also been told not to prolong the process. The sports wing of the GHMC has also deployed a few swimmers into the lake to prevent any untoward incidents.

Irrigation Department: The mechanical wing of the irrigation department has been given the mantle of keeping a tab on the number of cranes and tempo vans that will be present around the lake. They are responsible for allocating a dedicated space to a particular pandal for their immersion.

Road Transport Authority: The RTA is going to arrange for transport of the idols from their respective pandals to the place of immersion. The RTA officials met the members of the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi (BGUS). Joint Commissioner Raghupati presided over the meeting. Discussions about the requirement of the vehicles for ‘Nimajjanotsavam’ were held. The centres decided for Nimajjanam were Necklace Road, Zoo Park, Chandrayangutta, Moosarambagh, Trimulgherry, Nagole and Toli Chowki. On September 17, one day before the Nimajjanam, vehicles will be handed over to the organisers of the Ganesh pandals and tokens will be given to the BGUS office. The cost of a 10-tyre lorry will be Rs 3300, 6-tyre lorry Rs 2000, medium vehicles Rs 1300, small vehicles Rs 1100 and DCM Rs 800.

Tourism Department: The tourism department will be in-charge of supplying boats and other facilities to the GHMC swimmers on the day of the immersion. These boats will come in handy for the people who pursue the garbage collection works within the water body. Apart from the garbage collection it will also ferry the swimmers around the water body. An official from APTDC said that every year they hold the responsibility for the supply of boats and other facilities.

Apart from these civic bodies and departments, the police, both law and traffic, have a meaty role to play during the processions and immersion. The traffic police will be responsible for clearing the roads and steering away the traffic from the places of immersion. A Police official at the lake said, “ On the day of the immersion only people who are carrying a pandal will be allowed to come onto the Tank Bund Road. For that day, general public on two wheelers and four wheelers will not be allowed.”