With a focus on water bodies, large-scale arrangements have been made in the city and suburbs with ahead of the Ganesh idol immersion on Wednesday. Both the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) are on the job in their own way.
While the HMDA’s endeavour remains focused on the Hussainsagar, where most idols are brought for immersion, the GHMC will be involved in sanitation arrangements during and after the procession in the city.
The GHMC has deployed manpower and machinery for sanitation at various procession routes. Apart from two front-end loader vehicles, the GHMC has also arranged for four ten-tonner vehicles at Hussainsagar. Deputy Commissioners and medical and health officers have been assigned the task of maintaining hygiene during and after the immersion.
Given the existing conditions of the roads, the GHMC had also sanctioned Rs.81.58 lakh for taking up patchwork along key processions routes as also the removal of debris and building material.
“We have emergency teams on standby to attend to instances of inundation and stagnation of water on roads in case it rains tomorrow [on Tuesday],” said a senior municipal official.
Meanwhile, the HMDA has already set up counters to receive smaller idols and puja material being brought for immersion at Hussainsagar. It has also begun lifting and shifting immersed idols for the last six days.
The material salvaged from the immersion points was being shifted to Sanjeevaiah Park where after drying, it would be shifted to the dumping site.
HMDA Member Environment R.P. Khajuria said the AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB), which has been tasked with studying water quality at the lake, would collect samples at different stages to study the impact of idol immersion.
HMDA officials said a similar study last year showed the quality of water at the lake was restored to its pre-immersion state within 25 days.
