Hyderabad High Court: Call meet on idol immersions in Hussainsagar

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Monday directed the Telangana government to convene a meeting with senior officials and concerned stakeholders for exploring the possibility of avoiding the immersion of idols in Hussainsagar from this year and submit a report before it by Thursday.

A two-member Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice S.V. Bhatt was dealing with a plea by Mr M. Venu Madhav, an advocate from the city, seeking to punish the officers responsible for not complying with the earlier orders of the court regarding the immersion of idols in city lakes.

GHMC counsel Kesava Rao, said that as per the direction of the court, a team of officers had visited Bengaluru and studied the feasibility of adopting the system put in place by the Bengaluru Corporation for immersion of idols in various ponds in the city.

While placing the report of the team along with photographs, he told the Bench that the height of the idols immersed in the lakes of Bengaluru was below eight feet, while the idols immersed in Hyderabad lakes were all above 30 feet.

When the counsel said that it might not be possible to stop immersion in Hussainsagar this year, the Bench said: “The lake is already polluted and immersion will further degrade it. Explore possibilities of immersing idols in other lakes in the city and also of reducing the height of the idols to 15 feet.” The bench adjourned the hearing to Thursday.