Hyderabad: Tension prevailed at Hussain Sagar (Tank Bund) after several members of a right-wing group staged a protest against the Telangana High court order banning immersion of plastic of paris (POP) Ganesh idols in lake. Although the police has made arrangements in and around Tank Bund to prevent immersion in it, a large group of people stormed the area and staged a ‘Rasta Roko’ protest.
Demanding the withdrawal of the High Court order banning the immersion of Ganesh idols due to environmental concerns, the protestors raised slogans against the Telangana government. However additional police forces were pressed into service. The flow of traffic was affected for few hours.
The protest was held by members of the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi. Under the leadership of its secretary Bhagavanth Rao, its members reached Hussain Sagar in large numbers since the samithi had given a call for a bike rally against the state government’s ‘failure’ in seeking a nod for immersion at Tank Bund.
The central zone police foiled the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi’s attempt and prevented them from taking out a bike rally on Tuesday. Many protestors were taken into custody and shifted to various police stations.
In July this year, a division bench of the Telangana High Court, headed by Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, and Justice Surepalli Nanda, directed the Telangana government to ensure that Ganesh idols made of PoP or any other material are “not” immersed in the Hussain Sagar Lake (Tank Bund) or any other lakes in Telangana.
In the year 2021, the then-acting Chief Justice MS Ramchander Rao had restrained the Telangana Government from allowing the immersion of POP idols in Tank Bund and instead directed the authorities to create baby ponds. However, it was finally allowed then due to heavy pressure.
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