Hyderabad: Actress Lakshmi Manchu’s tweet to KTR which attracted around a 100 comments talks about the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. The tweet mentions Road Number One at Filmnagar junction which is one of the most traffic dense areas. The actress said that due to Ganesh Chaturthi a lot of places have been dug up to put up arches and pandals and that this has increased the time needed for traffic movement.
Deputy commissioner of police, (traffic) L. Chauhan said, “We are working hard to ensure that the festival does not affect traffic movement. We have specifically requested volunteers not to occupy roads. As it is, preparations for the festival is increasing the travel time of vehicles at this junction.”
The tweet states that competition between localities to build pandals and idols should stop and localities should have common pandals to celebrate the festival in its true spirit. However, municipal authorities and traffic personnel say that as it is a “once in a year affair” people are allowed to do as they please as restrictions might harm religious sentiments.
“The pandals are erected after talks with the police. As it is directly connected to people’s emotions and as many government functionaries also actively take part in the celebrations, no requests are denied as such,” says a senior official from the traffic wing.
The tweet also talks about the extravagance of Ganesh idols and requests a limit on idols as the actress had seen electricity wires getting snapped to ensure that tall Ganesh idols passed through the lane.
“The electricity board also plays a role in the festivities and identifies idols which are too tall. We often shut down power to ensure that an idol passes through. However, we put it back as soon as possible,” says an electricity board official.
“We encourage people to construct pandals in the same place every year. When volunteers ask us for permission, we visit the proposed sites before granting it. We do not encourage the use of too much space on roadsides,” West Zone DCP Venkateshwar Rao said.
