The judgement given by the Telangana high court on Thursday asking the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation authorities not to allow immersion of Ganesh idols made of Plaster of Paris in the Hussain Sagar has left the K Chandrasekhar Rao government in tight spot.
If the government decides to strictly follow the high court verdict, it has to incur the wrath of the Hindu groups, including the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi. If it ignores the court order, it amounts to serious contempt of court.
As only nine days are left for the Ganesh Nimajjan, the authorities are waiting for a decision from the chief minister, who as usual has remained indifferent to the whole issue.
On Saturday, the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi asked the state government to intervene and make arrangements for Ganesh idol immersion.
Samithi president Bhagawanth Rao demanded that the government file a review petition in the high court or approach the Supreme Court on the issue of idol immersion and make necessary arrangements.
“We are waiting for the authorities to act. There is very little time left to make immersion arrangements,” he said.
The Samithi, which has been working for the last three decades to facilitate the conduct of the Ganesh festival, said the Ganesh puja and idol immersion were a matter of faith, culture and practice followed since ages.
“Some individuals and organisations are creating a false narrative about the festival. They are propagating a false agenda on the Hussain Sagar being polluted only because of idol immersion. The lake is being polluted due to industrial effluents,” Rao said adding that there were no concrete reports which have proved pollution in lakes by testing the quality of water before and post immersion.
