Girls doing their homework at a shop selling Ganesh idols on Eluru Road in Vijayawada on Friday.
This year’s Vinayaka Chavithi celebrations in Vijayawada are set to be subdued due to the aftermath of severe flooding from the Budameru rivulet.
In K.L. Rao Colony, what was once a vibrant pandal housing a Ganesh idol now serves as a storage area for relief supplies and packed bottled water.
“What celebrations can we have when so many have lost their homes and possessions? We cannot celebrate the festival on a grand scale during these trying times. There will be no pandal this year,” shared Vimala Kumari, a resident who expressed concerns about rising water levels.
At Sitara Centre, where the nine-day festival was slated to start, a towering 72-foot eco-friendly Ganesh idol currently sits in 2-foot deep murky water. Organizers, facing challenges with water removal, are constructing a three-and-a-half-foot-high platform to allow visitors to access the idol.
“Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan were scheduled to join the festival’s inauguration on September 7. Initial estimates expected about 200,000 visitors on the opening day, but we now anticipate around 30,000,” reported Doondi Rakesh from the organizing committee.
Grand preparations for the festival included floodlights, prayer stages, and designated parking, all of which are currently submerged. “We previously hosted celebrations at Gymkhana and the government music and dance college grounds in 2015, 2016, and 2017, but chose this new location to improve parking,” he explained.
The Ganesh idol, crafted from mud and taller than the famous Khairtabad idol in Hyderabad, was created over a span of 70 days by 90 artisans and is yet to be painted. “Completion of the platform and painting should finish by Saturday afternoon, allowing devotees to visit starting that evening,” noted Mr. Rakesh, who withheld specific figures regarding the financial impact on the organizing committee.
Published – September 07, 2024 05:37 am IST
