Ganpati Bappa Morya: Hyderabad decks up to welcome Ganesha

Hyderabad: Hyderabad city is all pumped up to celebrate the Ganesh Chaturthi festivities starting from Wednesday. Streets and nooks of the city are all decked up to welcome Lord Ganesh. Followed by Mumbai and Pune, Hyderabad is known for holding celebrations of various festivals on a grand note, and Ganesh festivities are celebrated with great pomp and fervour.

Ganesh Chaturthi, a 11-day festival will be celebrated from August 31 to September 9. To mark the festival, people bring idols of Ganpati Bappa to their homes for 1.5 days, three days, seven days and 10 days after which the devotees immerse the idol by chanting Ganpati Bappa Moriya Agle Baras Tu Jaldi Aa. Shops in various markets in the city including Dhoolpet were seen bustled with devotees purchasing different types of Ganesh idols.

Observing the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of India's Independence this year, majority of Ganesh pandals will be set up in tri-colour. Over two lakh pandals will be set up in the twin cities. Lord Ganesh is worshipped in pandals which adds to the festive feel as people gather in huge numbers.

In Hyderabad, there are various Ganesh idols which have a history. Khairtabad Ganesh is known for its height and is said to be the tallest Ganesh idol in India this year with 50-feet height. While, the Balapur Ganesh is the oldest idol that leads the annual Vinayaka procession to Hussainsagar. Balapur Ganesh is also famous for its laddu auction. The auction of laddu was first held in 1994, the laddu auction fetched Rs 450. The auction process attracted global attention in 2015 when it fetched Rs 10.32 lakh and in 2021 it fetched Rs 18.90 lakh.

While, the people of Begum Bazar in Old City have a penchant for setting up different, unique and innovative themes of Ganesh idols which draw huge crowds during the celebrations.

For the last four decades, the streets of Begum Bazar continue to pull huge crowds and attract the devotees to have its glimpse with traditional wrestlers. The giant Ganesh idol, which is unique and proudly called as 'Pehalwan Ganesh', appears to be like a wrestler. Every year, 'Pehalwan' Ganesh is keeping all the attention. The muscular 25-feet-tall Bappa attracts devotees from all over Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has made all the arrangements for the 11-days festival. GHMC will deploy over 280 cranes at lakes located in different parts of the city to facilitate Ganesh Idol immersion and around 9,000 sanitation staff will be pressed into service across the Greater Hyderabad limits. Cranes will be deployed in NTR Marg, Saroor Nagar Lake and Sanjeevaiah Park Baby Pond and various other locations.

The corporation will also set up 24 fabricated ponds for idol immersion across the Greater Hyderabad limits to ensure safe immersion. Apart from these, the civic body will also set-up 22 excavated ponds to facilitate immersions of Ganesh in the festival and ensure that the idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP) are only immersed in portable ponds.

The size of these ponds will be 30 metres by 10 metres with a depth of 1.35 to 150 metres. Idols up to 4-feet height can be immersed in these ponds," said a GHMC official.