HYDERABAD, INDIA, August 1, 2006: With the Andhra Pradesh High Court maintaining a tough position on immersion of icons in Hussainsagar, the Ganesh Utsav Committee has decided to go in for bio-degradable paints for the icons this year. The committee has asked the State government to provide them with a separate place near the NTR Marg and Tank Bund so that the pollutants from the icons do not spread to other parts of the lake. Ganesh Utsav Committee secretary G. Hanumantha Rao said, “There are earlier orders which the High Court issued in 1998 and 1995 allowing us to take up immersion at Hussainsagar. This time too we are hopeful that the immersion will take place at Hussainsagar. We have agreed to use natural dyes and colors.” Environmentalists welcome the move of the committee. President for National Green Corps W.G. Prasanna Kumar said, “The paints and plaster-of-Paris were polluting the lake. A separate place for immersion and natural dyes could be the solution.” But the committee’s move seem to have come in a bit late. A top official from Buddha Poornima Project Development Authority said, “There is no time to take up construction of separate ponds in Hussainsagar.” Though the committee has expressed its readiness to use natural dyes and bio-degradable colors for Ganesha icons, artisans at Dhoolpet and Uppal have already completed 90 percent of Ganesha icons with plaster-of-Paris, the official added.
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