All set for Ganesh immersion

Civic body identifies 113 different procession routes crisscrossing the city and suburbs. At the main immersion venue at Hussainsagar lake, arrangements were being made for installing 23 big cranes of which 19 were in place by afternoon.

Children carrying Lord Ganesh Idols as part of a procession for immersion ceremony held in Hyderabad on Sunday. Photo: G. Ramakrishna

At an estimated budget of Rs.11.49 crore, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has made elaborate arrangements for the smooth passage of Ganesh idol immersion procession across the city on Monday.

The civic body which has identified 113 different procession routes stretching to a total of 227.85 km and crisscrossing the city and suburbs said on Sunday that most of the planned works related to roads, sanitation, pruning of branches and lighting was completed. “We are ready with almost all the planned exercises to provide best possible conditions for the idol immersion in the city,” GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar remarked.

This time, special Ganesh Action Teams (GAT) with 2,826 workers had been constituted to be positioned at different points along the procession routes. “Earlier, our vehicles and staff used to find it hard to reach from a central point in cases of need related to road work, sanitation during the procession. Now, our special teams are positioned in such a way that they can reach any point in shortest time,” he said.

At the main immersion venue at Hussainsagar lake, arrangements were being made for installing 23 big cranes of which 19 were in place by afternoon. For the convenience of large number of participants expected in the procession, the civic body has also set up 19 mobile toilets at different junctions, including at Tank Bund, NTR Marg and Charminar.

Road works

For road works such as patch repairs, pothole filling, lane and kerb markings, the GHMC has earmarked Rs.10.31 crore apart from Rs.60.82 lakh for electrical works, Rs.47.21 lakh for sanitation and Rs.10.09 lakh for horticulture related works.

According to the officials, 3,595 streetlight poles were being freshly painted and at 130 locations, 18,020 temporary lighting facilities were being set up.

Removal of debris

Meanwhile, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) which made required arrangements at different water bodies with focus on Hussainsagar said that required paraphernalia was already in place to remove the idol debris from the lakes.

The HMDA which removed around Rs.3,700 metric tonne of material during idol immersion last year is prepared for 4,000 metric tonnes now given the rise in number of idols installed this time. “The immersion of idols has been going in for the last four to five days and so far we have removed around 1,400 metric tonnes of idol debris from Hussainsagar,” the HMDA Member Environment, R.P. Khajuria said.

Water camps

The HMWSSB has set up 101 water camps along the procession route and would also be keeping ready 30 lakh water sachets ready for distribution on Monday. The Board in a press release said that arrangements for supplying of drinking water for those participating in the idol immersion were in place and desilting works were taken up to ensure that there were no sewer overflows on the procession route.