OMG! Lord Ganesh idols strewn on river bed

Bhadrachalam: It appears people have neither devotion nor fear of God. Nearly three months after Ganesh Chaviti a number of idols of Lord Ganesh are seen strewn on the river bed of Godavari near Bhadrachalam. People just ignored the fact that the idols were not properly immersed in the river. After worshipping Lord Ganesh for nine days, they took the idols to Godavari and immersed them. They did not look back to see the fate of the idols. Lest they would have returned and saw to it that they are properly immersed.

There is no explanation to the act of devotees who left the idols to the vagaries of nature instead of immersing in Godavari River. A number of idols of Lord Ganesh were brought here not only from the two Telugu-speaking States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh but Odisha and Chhattisgarh. It is estimated that more than 2,000 idols were immersed in Godavari after worshipping them for nine days. For the devotees it is a heart-wrenching scene to see so many idols of Lord Ganesh are scattered on the river bed.

Devotees like Arjun, Radhakrishna Sharma expressed anguish over the plight of the idols. The Bhadrachalam executive officer, P Venkateswarlu, told The Hans India that many idols were made of plaster of Paris and other non-soluble material making it hard to dissolve in water. Such idols were washed ashore, he said adding that the idols would be removed soon. BJP district unit general secretary A Subba Rao underlined the importance of bringing awareness among people to go for clay idols. “It is painful to see the idols in such a state,” he added.

By P V Satyanarayana