Hyderabad, September 16, 2013: Twenty-six water bodies have been identified in Ranga Reddy district, majority of them within the purview of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), for immersion of Ganesh idols, and arrangements are in the progress at the locations for facilitating smooth immersion, officials say.

In addition to the 19 large tanks identified in mandals such as Serilingampally, Saroornagar, Quthbullahpur, Malkajgiri, Rajendranagar, Balanagar, Keesara, Ghatkesar, Medchal and Shamshabad, seven more smaller water bodies have been chosen in Serilingampally mandal alone, so as to reduce crowding.

Of these, only 16 lakes, where the influx of idols is expected to be higher, will be provided with cranes, while all the lakes will be given adequate lighting.

A host of decisions, including construction of platforms and provision of wire mesh at major lakes, were taken at the meeting conducted by District Collector B.Sridhar on August 22, and attended by officials from Roads and Buildings, Irrigation, Power Supply, and Revenue wings and representatives of the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi. Large tanks such as Saroornagar Lake and IDL Tank will be provided with wire mesh so as to avoid accidents.

In all, 33 cranes will be provided at all major tanks, as per the Irrigation Department’s estimates, while 50 cranes have been requested by the Collector and the Samithi representatives. The Fisheries Department will provide 40 expert swimmers at major points, and the Tourism Department has been requested to provide 20 motor boats to see that the idols do not settle over at one point.

Ambulances, fire tenders and generators will be provided to ensure incident free immersion, officials informed.

Upon request from the Samithi representatives, Mr. Sridhar has asked the Excise Department officials to ensure that the liquor shops within the vicinity of the immersion site remain closed around immersion time. Special officers have been delegated with the immersion responsibilities at all lakes.

“We have asked the officials concerned to get the approach roads repaired. We are also considering construction of additional platforms according to the request of the Samithi,” said Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Superintending Engineer (R&B) who is looking after the arrangements in the district.

Source: The Hindu, September 16, 2013