Ganesh idol immersion pond turns dumpyard

Neknampur: The abandoned mini pond adjacent to Neknampur Lake that was built one year ago has now turned into a garbage bin. This mini pond was constructed in July 2017. The lake is of 55 feet wide and 9 feet depth. Around 1,892 Ganesh idols were immerged last year. Among them one idol was 15 feet height.

With the Ganesh festival nearing, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is still not concerned say locals. After the Ganesh idol immersion was over last year, the pond was left unattended. “The big idols were removed and the smaller ones were left unpicked. The officials waited for the lake to go dry to undertake pond cleaning activity. However, even after the lake went dry by March this year, there was no witness of concerned officials plunged into its restoration works. It has turned into a small dumping yard with chunk of garbage all over,” said Madhulika, managing trustee from Dhruvansh, NGO.

The local panchayat is also turning away from carrying out the restoration works. “It costs around Rs 1 crore to refurbish the pond therefore the local sarpanch denied to do it,” she added, if the officials cannot maintain them why to shell out huge amounts to construct these mini ponds and make them for no use. Locals say that if the pond is well maintained, there would be no need to take the Ganesh idols to Hussain Sagar Lake. Mahesh, a resident said, “The government spent lakhs to develop the pond but hardly spends money to protect it.”

BY Sushma Nagaraju