Hyderabad bids jumbo adieu to Ganesha

Hyderabad: The 11-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi festivities concluded as thousands of devotees on Tuesday immersed idols of the elephant-headed deity at various designated spots across the twin-cities amidst fanfare and tight security. For the first time, the Balapur Ganesh was immersed by 5.50 pm and Khairatabad Ganesh at around 1 pm on Tuesday.

The annual ritual has now become a massive event in Greater Hyderabad where an estimated 10,500 idols in different sizes were immersed in various water bodies in the city and on the outskirts on Tuesday. In addition to the Hussain Sagar lake, the idols were immersed in Kapra Cheruvu, Saroornagar Lake, Rajanna Bavi, Mir Alam Tank, Palle Cheruvu, Pattikunta Cheruvu, Durgam Cheruvu, Malkam Cheruvu, Gopinagar Cheruvu, Pedda Cheruvu, Gangaram, Gurunatham Cheruvu, JP Nagar, Kaidamma Kunta in Hafizpet, Erla Cheruvu, Manjeera Road, Vinayaka Nagar Rayasamudram Lake, RC Puram, Sakicheruvu, Patancheruvu, IDL Tank, Pragathinagar Cheruvu, Hasmathpet Cheruvu, Sunnam Cheruvu, Pariki Cheruvu, Venellagadda Cheruvu, Suraram Cheruvu, Kotha Cheruvu (Alwal lake) and Safilguda lake.

The NTR marg was flooded with people and vehicles leading to a massive traffic jam. But that did not deter people from flocking to the area. Eager passers-by, who could not find space on the route for clear view of the Ganesh procession, chose Telugu Talli flyover as a vantage point. The sight of gigantic cranes lifting the Ganesh idols captivated their attention. Regular commuters who opt for Mint Compound Road as a short cut to reach Khairatabad flyover were also put to inconvenience as the route was jammed.

The civic administration, Hyderabad Police, fire brigade and SRPF (State Reserve Police Force) have put in place elaborate security arrangements to ensure a peaceful immersion.

A control room was set up at Sardar Mahal in Old City for co-ordination of departments to ensure the peaceful procession. Over 30 lakh water sachets were arranged; 25,000 police personnel and officials deployed.

Home Minister Naini Narsimha Reddy conducted aerial survey using helicopter. Around 800 CC cameras have been fixed right from Balapur to Hussain Sagar and various other localities in the area and some 50 cranes were in place surrounding Hussain Sagar and other lakes. Metro Water Works had made arrangements to supply safe drinking water to the devotees.

The GHMC took up sanitation drive (street sweeping and garbage removal) all along the procession routes by deploying 165 Ganesh Action Teams (GATs), one for every 3 km. Each GAT consists of one sanitary supervisor, three SFAs and 21 workers, totalling over 9,710 workers.

The corporation has arranged 236 vehicles and installed 3 heavy cranes; 21 people were deployed at each crane.

Totally, 531 workers were deployed. About 40 mini tippers, 6 front end loader vehicles, 4 JCBs, 20 small sweeping machines were used. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) supplied free drinking water at various points along the lines of Ganesh immersion procession to cater to the drinking water needs of devotees and the police

authorities. Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Talasani Srinivas Yadav visited some Ganesh pandals in the city and inspected the arrangements for Ganesh immersion. First, the Minister visited Ramgopalpet and performed special pujas there.

The Minister also saw monitoring of the main procession from Balapur at Charminar from the ACP office.