Hyderabad: All eyes are on the Hussain Sagar lake after the Telangana High Court closed the contempt petition filed by advocate Mamidi Venu Madhav, who approached the court seeking a direction to prevent the Telangana government from immersing plaster of paris (POP) Ganesh idols in the Hussain Sagar and other lakes in and around Hyderabad.
Even before the court could pronounce its verdict on Tuesday, posters were seen on Tank Bund cautioning that no idol immersion was allowed on Tank Bund as per the orders of the High Court. Later in the evening, cranes were moved from Tank Bund and NTR Marg to People’s Plaza, where immersion has been allowed.
The court has taken serious note of the petitioner filing the contempt petition at the last minute before striking it down and asking the petitioner to file a fresh petition if he had any evidence of any violations taking place against the High Court’s order of 2021.
According to Venu Madhav, after the High Court’s orders were violated in 2022 and 2023, he filed a contempt petition in 2023, and the top court ordered the Telangana government to file a compliance affidavit. A copy of the compliance report with regard to the Ganesh idol immersions was also sent to the High Court.
On Tuesday, the High Court bench hearing the matter told the petitioner that since the compliance report had been submitted by the Telangana government, if he had any information or evidence about any violation, he could file a fresh petition. The High Court also directed the State government to implement its earlier order of a 100% ban on POP Ganesh idol immersion.
Venu Madhav told Siasat.com that he has even emailed UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and leader of the opposition MP Rahul Gandhi about the gross violation of the court’s orders by the Telangana government, and has even spoken to the former union minister for environment Jairam Ramesh, who had assured him that he would discuss the issue with chief minister A Revanth Reddy.
However, time has run out and arrangements are in full swing again this year to immerse the Ganesh idols inside the Hussain Sagar.
A slight relief for heritage activists is that the Tank Bund has been spared from the burden this year, as apparent from the flexi of “no idol immersion on Tank Bund” placed on Tank Bund by the police, traffic police and GHMC.
The reason for the change is the High Court’s 2021 order, where the court had observed that the bund which is 450 years old couldn’t withstand the weight of the cranes and heavy vehicles during the immersion process, and could cause heavy loss to public property if it breached.
Several questions remain unanswered about where the idols would be immersed, if POP idols will be allowed, and where the gigantic Khairatabad Ganesh will be immersed this year.
There are five points where the cranes would be stationed on People’s Plaza, and bringing more cranes could cause congestion and heavy delays in the immersion process. Another issue is that it will practically be impossible to carry the Khairatabad Ganesh to People’s Plaza, as immersing that idol at NTR Marg like every year, would be more convenient.
Since the cranes are being moved from NTR Marg to People’s Plaza, it needs to be seen whether the move is just lip service, or if concrete steps will be taken by the GHMC to prevent POP idols immersion. No GHMC official was seen either at the GHMC’s podium at NTR Marg or the People’s Plaza on Tuesday evening.
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