Hyderabad: 'Karra Puja' for 2020 Ganesh Utsav on May 18

Hyderabad: The Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav Samithi, which installs the biggest Ganesha of the city, would be starting the preparations for the ensuing year's celebrations from May 18 with 'Karra Puja'.

The Khairatabad Ganesh is the major attraction during the Ganeshotsav in the city as people not only from the city but also from different parts of the state come to see the giant statue of Lord Ganesha.

The organisers on Monday issued a press release stating that the committee would be celebrating the 66th year of installation of Lord Ganesh idol.

"This year also we are installing Ganesh idol during Ganesh Chaturthi for which we will be starting the work of preparing Lord Ganesh idol by performing Karra Puja at 5 pm on May 18," said the press release issued by the Ganesh Utsav Samithi Khairatabad Chairman S Sudarshan.

The press release also said that they would be adhering to rules of Covid pandemic and urged people coming to Karra Puja to wear mask and maintain social distance.

However, the organisers had to face many inquiries from the devotees and also from the police after the press release went viral on social networking site.

The organisers said that they were not starting the preparation of idol but continuing the ritual of 'Karra Puja' as per the tradition.

"We have belief that Lord Ganesha would remove all the obstacles. We take up Karra Puja on the occasion of Sarvesha Ekadashi and we are continuing the tradition.

We will take a decision on preparing statue after Corona decreases," said Sudarshan.

During last year, the Samithi had installed Ganesha idol measuring 61 feet. The organises started installing idol from 1954 and the size has increased one feet every year since then.