Hyderabad: It was a journey that began in 1954.
In the 67th year now, the celebration of the iconic Khatabad Ganesh Chaturthi has come a long way since then.
“Inspired by Plea Bal Gangadhar Tilak to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi as a sign to unite people, my brother Shankaraiah began with an idol one foot in Khairatabad.
We have continued his inheritance since then,” said S Sudarshan, founder-cum-organizer Khairatabad Committee Ganesh Utsav .
Since then, idol has grown in size every year.
From Mammoth 65ft in 2019, this year’s idol has been stored at 40ft because of the big challenges every year in the journey of immersion in HussainSagar.
Last year, because pandemic restrictions were reduced to 9 feet.
“Across the city, there are hundreds of pandals with unique idols, but it is the most visited Khairatabad Pandal,” Sudarshan said.
This year, more than 100 skilled craftsmen from two Telugu countries, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu worked hard for four months to build ‘Pancha Mukha Rudra Maha Ganapati’ with Placester Paris (POP).
Special Pooja will be made, looking for Piddance from the third wave of Covid-19.
Every year, the committee chooses different themes for idols.
While the organizer to build it with clay for a long time, Sudharshan said they turned to pop because of the finishing provided.
“Even though it’s expensive to build pop idols, we haven’t compromised.
Every year we spend Rs 60-75 lakh.
Advertisements, donations and collections of Hundi are our sources of income,” Committee members said.
Anticipating nearly eight years of lakh during the celebration from 10 September to September19, the police had made a complicated arrangement and deployed around 200 personnel.
Even the railroad near the pandal will be monitored to arrange the movement of worshipers.