HYDERABAD: With the last of the Ganesh idols being immersed in water bodies across the city on Monday, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) pressed ahead with cleaning operations on war footing. While cleaning operations had already begun following the immersion of small idols on the third day of festivities, the civic body intensified efforts on Monday as per the petition filed in Supreme Court.
Altogether 83,191 Ganesh idols immersed in baby ponds and lakes in the city have been removed so far. Of these, 60,097 were immersed in baby ponds and 23,094 idols immersed in lakes were removed successfully. The civic body removed a total of 10091.923 metric tonnes of waste garbage after the Ganesh's immersion, officials said.
“We have deployed machinery and over 1200 staff in all the six zones to remove debris and sanitize the lakes as well as immersion ponds in GHMC limits. The highest number of staff were deployed in Khairatabad zone considering the massive influx of people as well as immersion processions coming to Hussainsagar and the immersion ponds around it from different parts of the city,” said Dr A Rambabu, chief entomologist, GHMC.
The GHMC petition was filed in the Supreme Court after the Telangana High Court banned the immersion of Ganesh idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP) in the lake.
“The directions issued by the High Court at this point of time would cause huge public outcry and also lead to administrative difficulties. The GHMC will ban the immersion of POP idols from the next year in light of the guidelines issued by Central Pollution Control Board. However, for this year the GHMC seeks an exemption,” the GHMC petition, filed through advocate Venkat Reddy, said.
The municipal corporation’s petition had stated that the PoP idols immersed in the Hussainsagar and other lakes in the city will be removed within 24 hours of immersion and transported to solid waste dumping sites.
