KAKINADA: A three-member committee consisting of Kakinada municipal commissioner, Kakinada revenue divisional officer and Kakinada DSP will make a joint inspection and decide on the place where the Ganesha idols can be immersed in Upputeru at Jagannaickpur.
The idol immersion programme used to be done at Upputeru, between the two bridges at Jagannaickpur, and the place is known as Vinayaka Sagar. For the past two years, the venue has been changed due to different reasons.
The Nagara Ganesha Utsava Samiti, organising the immersion programme for 32 years, is pressing the administration for regaining the venue. The samiti members have urged joint collector Keerthi not to change the venue.
Meanwhile, district revenue officer Sathibabu said the venue for immersions would be decided by a joint committee as work on a park is under way at the Salt Creek between the two bridges in Jagannaickpur.
Samiti convener Duvvuri Subrahmanyam said the park site belonged to Kakinada Port. In reply to an RTI question, the port officials made it clear that the department had not given permission for any kind of construction to the Kakinada Municipal Corporation or any other institution or any private agency. So, the municipality or the district administration should consider it as an illegal construction and give permission for the Ganesh Immersions at the site.
Meanwhile, the joint collector advised the pandal organisers that the height of the idol should not exceed three feet and the sellers of the idols must avoid marketing idols above three feet during this festival. People must use only idols made of soil. This is important for the protection of the environment. Celebrations via crowd formations are also barred, as also processions.
Meanwhile, the district administration issued an advisory saying pandals should not be erected at roads, streets, junctions, public places, markets, and apartments. If the organisers did this in such places, the police would remove them.
Any cultural activity, setting up DJ Sounds, processions, crowd formations or annadanam as also similar programmes will be disallowed during the Vinayaka Chaturthi festival.
The festival should be celebrated only at temples, that too by observing Covid19 protocols. There should be no distribution of Prasadam or Teertham (holy water) should be offered to the devotees.
The samiti held a meeting chaired by former BJP district president Malakondaiah and called upon the people to celebrate the event as per Covid-19 protocols. Samiti functionary D Ramanaraju said the Utsavams will start on September 10 and the Immersion programme would be on September 19.
