Hyderabad: For the first time in the history of the city, the Telangana government has initiated sweeping changes to protect our urban lakes by removing encroachments through the demolition drive of the newly formed Hyderabad Disaster Response Assets Monitoring and Protection Agency (HYDRA). However, at the same time, over one lakh Ganesh idols are getting ready to be immersed in city lakes all across the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s (GHMC).
While the Telangana government headed by chief minister Revanth Reddy is on a mission to save lakes from encroachments and is taking up demolition drives via HYDRA, it however is mum on the issue of pollution of lakes and other reservoirs which will begin on September 7.
Moreover, the Telangana High Court had also last year ordered not to allow the immersion of Plaster of Paris (POP) Ganesh idols in the historic Hussain Sagar lake. However, the then Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government knocked the Supreme Court’s doors informing that the Ganesh idols had already reached the pandals and it was too late to stop them from getting immersed in Hyderabad’s lakes, especially the Hussain Sagar.
Considering the urgency, the Supreme Court had then allowed the idol immersion in Hussain Sagar only for last year. One year later, it is to be seen if the government upholds the court order and bans the immersion into the Hussain Sagar lake as well. However, apart from that, several other lakes in localities of Hyderabad will also be immersed with Ganesh idols, as it is done every year.
Similarly, streets and ‘safai karamcharis’ in Hyderabad also get ready to brace for the massive amounts of residual pooja material and trash, which are left as residues after the immersions.
Activists point that the immersion of PoP is being done in violation of the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) guidelines that were framed in 2010 and revised in 2020, and also the High Court and Supreme Court’s orders on Ganesh idol immersions.
Dr Lubna Sarwath, who has been at the forefront of the campaign against POP idols, told Siasat.com that even clay idols shouldn’t be allowed to be immersed in the water bodies of Hyderabad.
“The very inception of Ganesh festival has its roots in the idea that clay needs to be removed from the water bodies (de-silting). The idol should be made of clay, and then it needs to be immersed in the farmer’s field. If we are immersing the clay idols again in the tanks, that means we are once again filling it with silt, which is against the concept of de-silting,” she observes.
What the law says on Ganesh idol immersions
“POP contains chemicals such as gypsum, sulphur, phosphorus, and magnesium. The dyes used to colour these idols may also contain mercury, cadmium, arsenic, lead, and carbon. Plastic and thermocol accessories are used to decorate these idols. Such materials are not biodegradable, hence are toxic
when immersed in water bodies. Hence, need was felt to develop guidelines for idol immersion,” CPCB states in the introduction of its guidelines.
“Both the Union Government as well as the State Government shall consider it expeditiously because the time lost involving the pollution might prove dangerous for environment of the country in long run,” CPCB cautions.
Especially with regard to the immersion, CPCB has strictly warned against immersing Ganesh idols inside the lakes and other water bodies. CPCB has issued guidelines to local bodies to create temporary ponds with bund made of impermeable clay or eco synthetic liner (HDPE), mobile tanks and other means.
In case of immersion of idols in rivers, lakes and ponds is inevitable, arrangement may be made for construction of adequate capacity temporary confined areas at designated places with earthern bunds for the purpose of immersion of idols at least 50 m away from the waterbody.,” CPCB states.
Despite the guidelines being in place, due to the vote-bank politics and in BJP’s words “appeasement politics,” successive governments have failed to adhere to the CPCB guidelines, and they continue to do so.
The GHMC procured 3.10 lakh clay idols that will be distributed to people under its limits free-of-cost in the first week of September. The Telangana Pollution Control Board (TGPCB) is also going to distribute 1 lakh clay idols in GHMC’s limits, and 64,000 idols in other districts. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) will also distribute 1 lakh clay idols.
All these three agencies combined, have distributed around 6 lakh clay idols last year, with an aim of encouraging the people to install clay idols.
However, saffron foot-soldiers have been reluctant to follow either the CPCB guidelines, or heed to the court’s orders. It may be recalled that even the BRS government had to surrender to the threats from the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi in Hyderabad last year, not to mention the BJP, after they warned that there would be massive protests if the Telangana government “failed to respect the emotions” of devotees.
“It was the BJP government at the Centre which had formulated the guidelines of the CPCB, which is a body that functions under the union ministry of environment, forests and climate change. Let them get permission from that ministry that they want to immerse POP idols and pollute the environment,” Dr Lubna said..
As of Saturday, the State government hasn’t uttered any thing against installation of POP idols. However, industries minister D Sridhar Babu, during a review meeting earlier this week, had urged the Ganesh Utsav Samithi members to consider using clay Ganesh idols.
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