Visakhapatnam: Busy stretch at RK Beach gets excluded from immersion point

Visakhapatnam: This year, there is no scope for immersing Ganesh idols at any point along the beach stretch.

The spots frequented by the tourists get excluded from the list of immersion points. Besides banning single use plastic and PoP idols for the festivities, the focus is also on maintaining the beaches by taking up clean up drives.

Keeping the safety aspect in view, the city police have imposed restrictions for the ensuing Ganesh Chaturthi. In a step to streamline the anticipated rush and maintain law and order, the Visakhapatnam city police decided to exclude the stretch extending from Park Hotel Junction to Naval Coastal Battery at RK Beach for immersion of Ganesh idols.

This particular stretch is where a large number of tourists frequent and there is a scope for any untoward incident if the immersion was allowed along the route. With this in view, Police Commissioner Ch Srikanth issued orders to ban immersion of idols at this stretch.

In line with this, instructions were given to the festival organisers to celebrate Vinayaka Chaturthi from August 31 to September 10. Organisers should seek permission from the concerned Assistant Commissioner of Police office for the festivities.

Similarly, permissions from GVMC, fire department and electricity department should be submitted to respective ACP's offices.

There should not be any collection of entry tickets for the darshan at pandals.

People can lodge a complaint against those collecting ticket fees for the darshan and related activities by contacting 9493336633, dedicated for the purpose.

This time, the stress is more on the complete ban on single use plastic in the city and no products that harm the environment should be used in the making of the idols.

In order to conserve the environment, the CP said, Plaster of Paris, artificial colorus should not be used and recommended the use of clay idols for the festival.

Similarly, restrictions were imposed on loudspeakers to prevent noise pollution which is a serious concern during Vinayaka Chaturthi as several pandal organisers resort to playing high-decibel music for hours at various points during the festival.

The police clarified that the pollution control board rules should be followed for loudspeakers and the sound should not exceed 55 decibels during the day and 45 decibels at night. Only box type speakers would be allowed to play from 6 am to 10 pm.

In order to avoid any untoward incidents, the festival organisers were instructed to install CCTV cameras at the venue.

Presentation of obscene dance as a part of the procession during the immersion of idols has been prohibited. The procession should follow a time slot.

Meanwhile, some of the locations have been selected by the authorities concerned for immersion. They include opposite Dry Jetty Coastal Battery, Spillway Jetty, Peda Waltair Jalaripeta, Sagar Nagar, Jodugullapalem, opposite IT SEZ, Bheemili Beach, Gostani river, Appikonda Ravala pond, Pinagadi pond and Narava.