A day after the Telangana High Court passed an order that there should be no immersion of gypsum (Plaster of Paris) Ganesh idols in the Hussainsagar lake, the main organiser of the event in the city put the onus on the state government for smooth conduct of the event.
“The State Government has to take care that the event passes off smoothly. The High Court ruling is just a reiteration of the older guidelines of following Pollution Control Board guidelines. We will follow them,” said Dr. Bhagwant Rao, General Secretary of the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi.
The HC ruling dictated that there should be no immersion of PoP idols in the Hussainsagar Lake or other water bodies and they should be immersed only in baby ponds.
“It is a good development. But instead of giving the judgement at the 11th hour, the High Court should give guidelines for next year’s event. The government should give an option to the workers who are dependent on this line of work to do things differently,” said Manognya Reddy, a volunteer with Kapra Lake Revival Group.
“The people on the field be it the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation workers or the law and order staff or the crane operators want to do their job. They don’t care what the idol is made of. There should be an awareness campaign to make people understand that it is best not to pollute the lake,” said Ms. Reddy, who has been part of an effort to save and clean up lakes, reacting to the development.
For the past two years, the Khairatabad Ganesh idol is being made with clay following the High Court guidelines. “The idols made with PoP are pulled out intact within two or three days. But the clay idols are not pulled out. Only the iron frame is pulled out. The clay will get accumulated over the years,” said Raj Kumar of Khairatabad Ganesh Utsava Committee.
