more-in Ignoring pleas for a clay idol, the Khairatabad Ganesh Utsava Committee is going ahead with a 57-feet tall Ganesha idol made of gypsum (plaster of paris). “We thought of making a clay idol, but last year, at many places, the idols made of clay collapsed or melted due to rain, including in Vizag and near Durgam Cheruvu in the city. We don’t want that to happen to our idol,” said S. Sudershan Mudiraj, chairman of the committee that organises the annual event. Every year, the Khairatabad Ganesha idol is a major draw for devotees and visitors and the narrow street leading up to the site becomes a hub of activity. In 2014, the sixtieth year of the celebrations, the idol touched a height of 60 feet which is being scaled down by one foot every year. The size of the idol is reduced as many civic and environmental activists have raised concerns over the impact of the massive idol and its debris on the Hussainsagar lake. “Let them clean up the Hussainsagar lake first and then we will for for a clay idol. The lake stinks and nothing has been done about it. Hundreds of PoP idols are immersed every year. Making our idol using clay will not make much of a difference,” said Mr. Mudiraj when asked about shifting to clay idol. This year, it’s a Ganesha idol with seven heads and 14 arms with a multi-hooded cobra protecting the God. The inner iron frame has already been welded into shape by craftsmen, who have come from Machilipatnam, and it soars to a height of over 50 feet. Once finished, the idol is expected to weigh about 80 tonnes with a major chunk being 50 tonnes of gypsum and 20 tonnes of steel and a tonne of clay used for moulding. “For 11 days, this place becomes a site of pilgrimage with over five lakh people visiting on certain days. We cannot let them down. Garlands weighing 500 kilos adorn the idol here. We don’t go around collecting chanda, people donate on their own. A smaller idol would take away the charm,” said Mr. Mudiraj whose father Shankaraiah started the tradition of installing the Ganesha idols in the locality in 1954 with a one-feet idol.

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