more-in Vinayaka Chavithi appears to be a ‘short and small’ affair this year. With just a day to go for the festivities to begin, the fervour though has set in, it’s a tad dull this time. This year, the number of pandals registered has seen a decline when compared to last year. According to DCP (Law and Order) K. Fakeerappa, so far 1,076 pandals have registered online so far and another 400 offline registrations have been reported. “For the first time, the online registrations have exceeded the offline ones. Last year, around 2,100 pandals were registered in both online and offline modes. Only a day to go for the festival to begin and the registrations have seen a drop by 20 % when compared to last year,” the DCP says. This year, the City Police has fixed the idol size at a maximum of eight feet, adding that the idols beyond the height have been directed to be immersed on the spot. The idol makers across the city say that the pre-order for the idols has been slow and the idols are still left unsold at several workshops. “The market is dull this year. Many of our idols were booked in the last three days which is a very unlikely trend when compared to the previous years when the festivities reached a crescendo at least three weeks ahead of the festival,” Murthy Sarakam, an idol maker at Kancharapalem Rythu Bazaar, told The Hindu. ‘GST hits hard’ The reasons for this, the idol makers say, can be attributed to the combined impact of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and market recession. “Due to GST, the raw materials, which are procured from from West Bengal every year, got delayed this time and this has badly hit us. We have made 170 idols this year as against 210 the year before,” Mr. Sarakam says, adding that the tallest idol he made this year is a 30-foot clay Ganesh for a pandal in Pendurthi. Many idol makers have preferred to keep the idol size small. At Akkayyapalem, the idol makers have scaled down the idol height between three and five feet. The situation is similar for the Bengali artistes who have been coming to the city every year since over a decade to make clay idols. “Until the beginning of the month, we had more than 60 idols that were left unsold. The demand has been unusually slow this time,” says Binoy Pal, who has a makeshift studio at Bhupesh Nagar. With a restriction on loud music and time limit of 10 p.m. being imposed, the festivities may well be a bit subdued this time, he adds.

Stay updated with all the Latest Visakhapatnam headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.