Ganesh festival: GHMC banks on baby ponds to keep lakes clean
Hyderabad : Keeping with the Telangana high court directive it has instructed all PoP Ganesh idols to be immersed in artificial ponds the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has taken up works to create an additional 50 baby ponds across the city, ahead of the festival season. While this will take the total count of baby ponds in Hyderabad to 74, environmentalists and festival organisers wonder if this exercise will resolve the issue of restricting pollution in other lakes in Hyderabad, particularly the Hussainsagar.
Reason: Most of the 24 existing ponds apart from some like the one near Sanjeevaiah Park can cater to idols only up to the a height of 8 feet. Incidentally, most idols are taller than that. “We have been assured by the minister (Talasani Srinivas Yadav) at Tuesday’s meeting that we will be allowed to immerse idols in Hussainsagar. If they are bringing additional baby ponds let them do so. But it cannot replace the lakes,” said Bhagwant Rao, general secretary of Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Committee. Several other organisers air a similar opinion. During the last two years, the 24 baby ponds saw poor patronage since majority preferred to immerse idols at major lakes such as Hussainsagar, Saroornagar and 31 other water bodies. Official data reveals that of the 94,792 Ganesh idols that were immersed in water bodies across GHMC limits last year, 67,484 were in artificial ponds while 27,308 were immersed in lakes. From Hussainsagar alone, 5,711 tonnes of debris were removed.
Apart from the problem of depth, environmentalists say that the baby ponds being constructed are also in violation of the ministry of environment guidelines (MoEF). “The rule states that pondsshould not be constructed using concrete as it is being done within the lake premises. Under the guise of protecting the lake, the pond itself is disrupting its hydrology as the lake flow gets disrupted,” said BV Subba Rao, technical member, reservoirs and lakes (water domain), BIS.
Irked by the attitude of pandal organisers, Venu Madhav, the advocate who petitioned against the use of PoP idols claimed their decision is aclear case of contempt of court. “The court order notes that the PoP idols can only be immersed in artificial ponds. We are studying the order and will file a contempt petition accordingly, if it is violated,” Madhav told TOI.
GHMC officials, however, are confident that the height restriction will not be relevant for immersion in baby ponds as tall idols will have to be cut in half before immersion. “Big idols will be cut because they will otherwise hit metro stations or other obstacles on most of the immersion routes. Hence, the baby ponds will be deep enough for any size of idol. We urge residents to avail of this service,” said a senior GHMC official.
The issue of idol immersion during Ganeshotsav has gone on long enough for the municipal authorities to find a permanent solution. We live in an age where we can no longer afford to hurt the delicate ecosystem of our cities. We must also respect the sentiments of the people. All the stakeholders police, municipal authorities and pandal organisers should come together for this. For starters, the authorities must provide enough ponds with the correct height so that all idols are immersed.
