HYDERABAD: Civic agencies and government departments in the city are gearing up for the Ganesh idol immersion procession on September 19, after a break last year due to the pandemic. Authorities said that like previous years, the Khairatabad idol will be immersed by the afternoon. The procession of the idol will start at around 9 am and reach NTR Marg at around 1 pm. The idol will be immersed at around 2 pm. However, the shifting of the idol from the spot to the trolley started on Saturday. The Ganesh idol from Balapur will also start at around 10 am for early immersion at Hussainsagar.
For the smooth conduct of the Ganesh idol immersion at around 33 water bodies and baby ponds on Sunday, the GHMC, HMWS&SB, HMDA, Tourism Department, TSSPDCL, Fire Department, Roads and Buildings Departments are making required arrangements and have deployed personnel and machinery to ensure that the procession process continues without hiccups.
For street sweeping and garbage removal, the GHMC has pressed 8,116 workers who will cover 303.5 km. The civic body has formed 215 Ganesh Action Teams (GATs) covering all six zones. Each GAT comprises a sanitary supervisor, sanitary jawan, SFA and 21 workers and will work in three shifts per day. Nearly 122 static cranes will be installed at the water bodies and 208 mobile cranes will be pressed into service. Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Committee (BGUS) appealed that the State government take measures and complete the idol immersion process is completed by Sunday as Pitrapakshalu (inauspicious period) starts from Monday.
Traffic diversions by police
In order to ensure a smooth immersion on Sunday, the Hyderabad City Police will impose traffic restrictions throughout the procession route. The restrictions will be in place from Saturday night and continue till Monday morning hours till the culmination of the procession. The police will monitor the traffic with the help of Google Maps to avoid traffic snarls. Only vehicles carrying Ganesh idols will be allowed from Charminar, Dilsukhnagar, Malakpet, Amberpet, Secunderabad, Mehdipatnam, Masab Tank side towards Tank Bund with a few exceptions on certain routes depending on the flow of vehicles carrying Ganesh idols.
Special transport arrangements
Special arrangements have been made by the Hyderabad Metro Rail and Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) for commuters on Sunday in light of the final day of immersion. In a statement, Hyderabad Metro Rail stated that for facilitating safe travel of commuters on the Ganesh Nimajjan day (Sunday), the Metro trains will operate till late in the night in all three corridors. As part of the same, the last trains will leave at 1 am from originating stations in all directions and reach their respective destination stations by about 2 am. Meanwhile, the TSRTC has planned to run 565 buses to cater to the commuters. The buses will start from Lakadikapul, Khairatabad, Indira Park and Basheerbagh.