District Collector S. Satyanarayana released about 200 cusecs of water from Sunkesula dam to KC Canal on Friday to cater to the drinking water needs of Kurnool town and facilitate Ganesh idol immersion slated on Saturday.
The Collector performed puja at the dam and released water from it. Superintending Engineer J. Chandrasekhara Rao and engineers were present.
As KC Canal has only ankle-deep water at Vinayaka Ghat in Kurnool city, where Ganesh idols are sought to be immersed on Saturday, the officials engaged workers to place hundreds of sand bags to build a temporary wall at Joharapuram to store water to facilitate the idol immersion.
As many as 1,500 Ganesh idols of various hues and sizes will be immersed in KC Canal at Vinayaka Ghat in Kurnool city on September 2 and about a lakh persons are expected to gather to watch the idol immersion, Kurnool District Ganesh Mahotsava Kendra Samithi working president K. Kapileswaraiah said here.
Deputy Chief Minister K.E. Krishnamurthy would launch the idol immersion ceremony and the Ganesh idol put up at Kummarageri by Vivekananda Yuvajana Sangham would be the first idol to be immersed at Vinayaka Ghat, he told the media in Sri Varasiddhi Vinayaka Swamy temple here. Viswa Hindu Parishad’s International honorary president G. Raghava Reddy, the chief guest, would flag off a procession of Ganesh idols at Sri Rambhotla temple at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Kurnool MLA S.V. Mohan Reddy, District Collector S. Satyanarayana, Superintendent of Police Gopinath Jatti and RSS leader M.D.Y. Ramamurthy would take part in the procession.
Kurnool MP Butta Renuka would perform ‘dhwajarohanam’ and light the lamp. Kurnool District Judge Anupama Chakravarthy would present prizes to about 600 students who participated in essay writing and painting competitions conducted by the utsav samithis. Pujas would be performed for Bharatha Matha and Sri Vinayaka. Smaller idols would be immersed at four different places and round-the-clock immersion arrangements made at 10 places in Kurnool city.
Mr. Kapileswaraiah urged the local Ganesh utsav samithis to ensure that revellers were not drunk and do not sprinkle colours on passers-by, women and Muslims going and returning from namaaz. He made it clear that the police would initiate action against trouble-makers and the utsav samithi would not take responsibility to come to their rescue. He advised parents to keep slips with their names, residential address and phone numbers in the pockets of their children for easy identification in case they go missing.
Six cranes and iron barricades were arranged, special arrangements made for women and children coming to watch the idol immersion at Vinayaka Ghat and police would monitor and record the immersion process through 100 cc cameras. Over 5,000 Ganesh idols were immersed in different towns and villages in Kurnool district so far.
Stating that Vinayaka idol immersion and Bakrid festivals fell on the same day for the third successive year, Mr. Kapileswaraiah said it seemed to be a message from God that Hindus and Muslims should co-exist as brethren. Samithi’s city working president K. Krishnanna, general secretary S. Rangaswamy, treasurer S. Sudhakar, sanghatana secretary K. Narasimha Varma and others were present.
