Hyderabad braces for elephantine ride

Hyderabad: With Ganesh Visarjan to be held on September 19, Sunday, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has initiated special measures to prevent the mixing of idol colours, Plaster of Paris (PoP), and other adverse materials with water during the immersion.

Minister for Animal Husbandry Talasani Srinivas Yadav along with Hyderabad City Mayor GadwalVijaylaxmi, Hyderabad City Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar and various other department officials inspected the Hussainsagar lake on Friday.

According to GHMC Commissioner Lokesh Kumar, all necessary arrangements have been made to remove idols immediately after they were immersed in the ponds designated by the crane.

He said a total of 330 mobile and static cranes with different lifting capacities have been deployed for the immersion of idols with an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore. This includes 33 cranes at Hussainsagarlake and 11 on NTR Marg Road. In the GHMC limits, 106 static cranes and 208 mobile cranes have been deployed through agencies at different lakes, tanks, and baby ponds.

"For the immersion process 162 'Ganesh Action Teams' have been formed in the city and a total of 8,116 personnel have been recruited in these teams. These teams will work in three shifts and25 dedicated ponds have been created for the immersion," said the Commissioner.

For the removal of immersion waste, GHMC has pressed a total of 20 vehicles with excavators along with 21 JCBs, 39 mini tippers, and 44 vehicles with a capacity of 10 tonnes. For the illumination purpose 41,284 streetlights have been installed.

In order to prevent any kind of damage to the newly-installedornamental lamps, laid pavements and railings, the agencies have provided a large number of sandbags and other suitable materials. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewage Board (HMWS&SB) have set up camps in 101 areas and staff has been deployed to provide drinking water to devotees and to remove debris along the way to Hussainsagar. About 30 lakh water packets will also to bedistributed.

To avoid accidents the Roads and Building (R&B) Department erected barricades, watchtowers and view cutters will also be set up. The fire department had deployed three boats with 38 fire vehicles at Saroor Nagar, Pragati Nagar, and Kapra lakes on the immersion routes to deal with any disasters.

The Department of Tourism has arranged three boats and four speed boats and ten swimmers on the Tank Bund.

To ensure uninterrupted electricity supply the TSSPDCL has set up 101 transformers at various locations, 48 transformers in the Hussainsagar area, and 5 transformers at Saroor Nagar.