Hyderabad, Sep 6 The Telangana government on Tuesday clarified that immersion of Ganesh idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP) is prohibited in Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad as per the orders of the High Court.
However, authorities will allow immersion of clay idols in Hussain Sagar, the lake in the heart of the city. POP idols can be immersed in 31 lakes and 74 baby ponds across the city, it said.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has made arrangements in this regard. As many as 280 cranes and 130 mobile cranes have been arranged.
More than 10,000 sanitation workers have been engaged to help with the immersion process.
The state government came out with the clarification to counter misinformation being spread across social media about Ganesh immersion in Hussain Sagar.
A series of tweets were made on Tuesday from FactCheck_Telangana, a Twitter handle of the state government to fact check misinformation.
The High Court, in its order dated July 21, 2022, has maintained that immersion of POP idols in Hussain Sagar is prohibited, starting this year.
Another tweet said that BJP state President Bandi Sanjay is spreading misinformation that Bhagya Nagar Utsav Samithi (BGUS) activists were arrested for demanding peaceful immersion and proper arrangements. "The fact is that police arrested them for conducting a rally without any prior permission. According to the City Police Act, such events require prior permission. Any violation will be treated as per the law. Further, due to the Assembly session in progress, prohibitory orders are in effect within a four-km radius around the Assembly," it said.
Sanjay mentioned that the activists were arrested for demanding immersion arrangements. In fact, GHMC officials stated that all advanced arrangements have been made for the immersion.
Hyderabad police on Tuesday morning foiled an attempt by BGUS leaders to take out a bike rally near Hussain Sagar.
Samithi, which organises the annual festivities, demanded that the government allow immersion like in the past without any restrictions.
It has given a call to all the Ganesh mandap organisers to line up the idols for immersion in Hussain Sagar on the final day, in obvious contravention of the Telangana High Court's orders and subsequent Supreme Court orders last year, prohibiting immersion of idols made of PoP.
Sanjay also threatened that if idols are not allowed to be immersed in Hussain Sagar, the organisers will be forced to carry the idols to Pragati Bhavan, the official residence of the Chief Minister.
The nine-day festivities, which began on August 31 with the installation of thousands of idols, will culminate on September 9 with a massive immersion procession. Idols from various parts of twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and outskirts are brought to Hussain Sagar for immersion.
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