Hyderabad Police, GHMC Step Up Warnings Against PoP Ganesh Idol Immersions in Hussain Sagar
Hyderabad Police and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation have put up awareness banners across the city, cautioning devotees and Ganesh mandal organisers against immersing Plaster of Paris idols in Hussain Sagar as the festival’s immersion processions approach.
The notices point to directions from the Telangana High Court, which restrict the use of PoP idols and bar immersions at Tank Bund specifically. The court’s orders are aimed at protecting Hussain Sagar from the pollution associated with non-biodegradable materials and the chemical paints commonly used to finish PoP idols — pollutants that authorities say accumulate in the lake bed and affect water quality well after the festival season ends.
To manage the crowds expected during the immersion processions, civic officials are expanding the number of immersion platforms available around the lake and deploying additional cranes along Necklace Road, a step aimed at speeding up the process and reducing the bottlenecks that have marked immersion days in past years.
Police have appealed directly to organisers to switch to eco-friendly idols made from clay or other biodegradable materials, and to stick to the High Court’s orders and the designated immersion points rather than improvising alternative sites along the lake’s edge. The advisory reflects a now-annual balancing act for Hyderabad’s civic and law enforcement machinery: accommodating one of the city’s largest and most visible religious festivals while enforcing environmental limits that have tightened in recent years.
