Glowing tributes paid to Tilak

Begum Bazar: Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi celebrated the 163rd birth anniversary of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who transformed the way Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated in the country 125 years ago. After inaugurating the office of Samithi at Siddiambar Bazar, Samithi members felicitated the idol of Bal Gangadhar Tilak located at Begum Bazar on Tuesday.

Speaking on Occasion, the general secretary of Samithi, Dr Bhagavanth Rao, announced that in view of upcoming Ganesh festival, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will be attending as the chief guest during the 11-day Ganesh festivities which will be scheduled from September 2 to September 12. The grand Ganesh immersion will be on September 12 of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

He requested the organisers of Ganesh pandals to immerse Ganesh on September 12 in a grand manner. "Samithi has been trying to promote the nationalistic fervour coupled with spiritual awakening among Indians as envisaged by the great patriot Balagangadhar Tilak. He also said that around 1.5 lakh of Ganesh idols are expected to get installed this year," said Bhagavanth Rao.

Bhagavanth Rao also demanded that the state government to declare the Ganesh festival as a state festival, as lakhs of people participate and more than a lakh of Ganesh idols will be immersed. Samithi President Raghav Reddy, Corporator (Begum Bazar) Shankar Yadav, Deepak Kola, Sriram Vyas, Ashok, Natraj Namdar and other members were also present on the occasion.

History of festivities

Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi has been working for the last 32 years to facilitate smooth conduct of the 10 days of Ganesh festival in the City. According to reports, the number of people organizing public celebration of Ganesh festival has gone up significantly over the last 32 years. Starting with just 1500 pandals in 1980 there were close to 50,000 pandals dotting the city during Ganesh Utsav during 2011.

Samithi also plays the most important role in facilitating the immersion of the Ganesha idols on the final day across multiple places in the city. It is estimated that more than 3 million people participate in the immersion processions on the 10th day of the festival.