Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samiti has given a call to all the Ganesh pandal organisers in the city to line up the idols for immersion in Hussainsagar on the final day, in obvious contravention of the Telangana High Court’s orders and subsequent Supreme Court orders last year, prohibiting immersion of idols made of Plaster of Paris in any lake including Hussainsagar.
The High Court reiterated its earlier judgement recently too, asking the government to issue orders about alternative arrangements for idols made of PoP.
General Secretary of the Samiti, Bhagavanth Rao, during a press conference on Monday, said the judgment for the contempt case from 2013 was a fallout of the government’s lack of response to the court about the measures taken with regard to an earlier order.
The earlier order merely said the immersion should be decentralised, and that the remains of the idols and other debris have to be removed and recycled. Further, Mr. Bhagavanth Rao also cited a report by EPTRI which said PoP idols are not affected even after 10 days of contact with water, and that large idols can be safely withdrawn from the lake after immersion.
Reminding that the High Court has not issued any directions to the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samiti, and there is no ban on the PoP idols, he demanded that the government should take initiative to remove the hurdles for immersion in Hussainsagar, as the Kerala governnment had done in case of Shabarimala verdict and Tamil Nadu government in case of Jallikattu.
The Samiti dismissed the artificial ponds created by GHMC as against ‘Hindu Dharma’, as the idols should be customarily immersed in only natural water sources.
A bike rally is planned by the Samiti on September 6 from Lumbini Park, to highlight the issue, and seek proper arrangements at the Hussainsagar and other places where immersion took place during previous years.
