23 artificial ponds readied by officials

Hyderabad: In order to protect water bodies from rampant pollution caused by immersion of thousands of Lord Ganesh idols made up of Plaster of Paris (PoP) and to avoid dumping decorative items along with idols them, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has constructed as many as 23 artificial ponds across the city till now.

Waiting in the long queue for a four to five hours to immerse the idols in major lakes like Hussein Sagar is a thing of past now. Reason: GHMC has already completed the constructions of 23 artificial ponds in various places across the city to help the residents immerse the Ganesh idols without much difficulty.

Speaking to The Hans India, Khursheed Moinuddin, Executive Engineer, Lakes Protection Wing of GHMC, said: "Each immersion pond costs Rs 70 to 90 lakh and we have constructed the 10 artificial ponds in first phase a few years ago and we have completed 13 ponds in second phase and remaining two ponds are under construction and we will complete it before this year Ganesh Chaturthi festival starts," he said.

"We have handed over around 23 immersion ponds to GHMC maintenance department for cleaning, filling water, handling immersion activity during the festival," he said.

They will clean one week before the Ganesh festival starts in September and they clean garbage from the pond and fill the water in it to immerse the idols. Lots of artificial ponds become dirty and lots of garbage dumped in these after the last year's festival.

Average size of the artificial pond is about 43 meters each in length and breadth and depth is 4 meters and small and medium sized idols can be immersed in these ponds, GHMC officer informed.Last year around 3,000 small Ganesh idols were immersed in each artificial pond and officials are expecting a lot more Ganesh idols this year to be immersed in these ponds instead of lakes.

Fresh water will be poured into these ponds through water tankers and workers will be deployed near the ponds during the immersion time to remove the idols as soon as possible after immersion to make way for others. Ganesh idols, which are made from Plaster of Paris as well as from clay, can be immersed in these ponds.

Earlier most of the people used to immerse their Ganesh idols in Hussainsagar Lake but now people can use the ponds nearby to their areas for immersion.