The Tank Bund, which is being prepped for the immersion of Ganesh idols on Friday, turned into a spot for a political slugfest between the TRS government and the BJP on Wednesday.
Senior Minister Talasani Srinivasa Yadav and Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi inspected the area along with officials belonging to various departments and told the media that arrangements were in place for the immersion day.
“Our city is known for grand celebrations on immersion day and our effort is only to make it better. Everything is in place — cranes, sanitation staff and the police are providing round-the-clock security at all pandals and this place too,” said Mr. Yadav.
He, along with ministerial colleague V. Srinivas Goud, MLAs D. Nagender and M. Gopinath, went around the Necklace Road, Dr. Ambedkar statue and NTR stadium.
TRS leaders had ostensibly gathered to discuss the proposed procession being planned from People’s Plaza till the NTR Stadium where there will be a public meeting to be addressed by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to celebrate the ‘National Integration Day’ on September 17.
At about the same time, State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar also reached the place and expressed dissatisfaction over the preparations being made. “Cranes are just being towed to Tank Bund because of the pressure mounted by the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi. The government has been lackadaisical and ministers have been lying about the preparations,” he charged.
The Samithi is the umbrella organisation that oversees Ganesh festivities here, and had alleged that the city police and government wings were not allowing pandal organisers to immerse idols in the Hussainsagar. Mr Bandi Sanjay had earlier extended support to the Samithi during a press meet and stated that the State government was not making any arrangements for immersion at Hussainsagar.
“What is the issue being made? We make preparations as per our dates and schedule. Why do we have to do it according to their plans,” Mr Yadav questioned, obliquely referring to the BJP leaders.
Sanitation staff, cranes
About 10,000 sanitation staff, 280 heavy duty cranes, including 130 mobile ones, 100 divers with boats besides staff of the water board providing drinking water, power distribution companies personnel ensuring round-the-clock power supply and police force in full strength will be present for the final-day procession of the Ganesh idols on Friday.
GHMC officials shared these details with Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi when she held a review meeting at the head office to discuss the preparations at the 74 water bodies and temporary tanks in which the devotees from across the twin cities will be immersing the idols.
Additional Commissioner B. Santosh said there will be 25 sanitation workers for every 4 km and up to 14 workers at each crane working in three shifts round the clock to ensure hassle-free immersion at the various water bodies.
The Mayor asked the authorities to make sure the main roads as well as arterial ones are free of potholes and bottlenecks while the power distribution companies have to be alert to any outages during the time. Coordination between various wings of the municipal corporation and other departments is vital over the next few days and GHMC workers should wear their trademark jackets, she stated.
