TCN News
The environment activists of SOUL (Save our Lakes) have written an open letter questioning the Government of Telangana about the decision to perform ‘Ganga Harathi’ in Hussain Sagar lake of Hyderabad.
The Government of Telangana has officially announced on 23rd August that ‘Ganga Harathi’ and immersion of Ganesh idols will be performed in Hussain Sagar.
‘SOUL’ members have asked in the letter whether this activity is part of the mandate of the Government. They have mentioned that is should be a private affair and not an event of the Government.
Apart from this, the whole activity is a threat to the largest lake of Hyderabad because along with the idols the coconut shells, flowers, incense sticks, plastic will also be thrown in the water body polluting the lake.
The government also plans to build 26 immersion ponds spending around 23 lakhs and in each water body, 5000 idols will be immersed. And for the ‘Ganga Harathi’ event, the Government also plans to distribute 30 lakh water packets to the persons present. This will again add to the pollution and environmental hazard as the plastic packets will be thrown around all over. This is why the activists feel that Ganga harathi will worsen the pollution of the lakes.
The government is flouting all rules of the Central Pollution Board and the environmentalists are also angry over the fact that the Government officials called for a meeting to discuss about idol immersions in the city, by inviting Ganesh Utsav Samiti, (association meant for the Ganesh festival) who pollute the water and ignoring the people who are struggling to preserve the water bodies.
In the open letter, the activists have reminded the Government that the CPCB (Central Pollution control board) guidelines ‘there is no permission, to either immerse idols directly in water body nor to construct immersion ponds inside water bodies.’
The letter also mentioned the report of The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Hyderabad about the dangerously high concentrations of toxic heavy metals found in the lake bed of Hussain Sagar. The concentration of cadmium on the lake bed is 50-300 times higher than the normal value of metal expected on the lake bed.
The activists have stated, “We do not see any connection between the government of Telangana and Ganga harathi. How is government entitled to perform harathis which is a right given only to a private citizen? Please see the preamble and directive principles of the constitution of India. You are going off at a tangent absolving yourself of your bounden duty towards citizens. Citizens are pathetically begging in dharnas for Aasha workers’ salaries, for fee reimbursement, for standard Government hospitals, for free standard schooling/colleges, jobs among other things.”
They have urged the Government officials to promptly cancel ‘Ganga harathi’ and ban idol immersions, and stop all pollutants, in all the water bodies of Hyderabad. Please comply with the Central Pollution control board guidelines regarding idol immersions. CPCB’s meticulous guidelines take care of the citizen’s religion angle and also the sanctity of lakes as lifelines for citizens.
Hyderabad once known as the city of lakes had, as per different sources, between 3000 to 7000 lakes – both natural and manmade. But today not even half the lakes can be seen. Many lakes have dried up while many have been encroached and forcibly dried up by land mafia. The few lakes that are left today are not taken properly much to the chagrin of environmental activists who have been continuously struggling and fighting the land mafia, filing petitions and creating awareness amongst the public.