Free power supply sought for Ganesh pandals

Kakinada: The Kakinada Nagara Ganesh Utsava Samithi (NGUS) has requested the State government to provide free electricity for Ganesh pandals during the Vinayaka Chavithi festival, following neighbouring Telangana State’s initiative to offer free power for similar events.

The Samithi representatives sent a formal petition via email to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and Minister N Lokesh. They have also submitted copies of the petition to the Joint Collector of Kakinada district Rahul Meena.

Among the committee members who met the Joint Collector included Enimirreddy Malakondaiah, D Ramana Raju, Duvvuri Subrahmanyam, Rambala Venkateswara Rao, S Lakshmi Prasanna, T Padmaja, Chitti Madhu, Godi Venkat, and Bolisetti Ramakrishna.

The committee pointed out that Vinayaka Chavithi is a significant festival in the country, which is celebrated with devotion not only by Hindus but also by people of other faiths. They said the cost of decorating pandals with electric lights was substantial.

With the festival being observed from September 7 to 16, and the immersion scheduled for September 17, they urged the government to provide free electricity for the pandals. They also mentioned plans to expand the committee’s activities throughout the district starting this year.