Khairatabad Ganesh to be 50 feet tall from next year

Hyderabad: Kudos to the Khaira-tabad Ganesh Utsav Samiti team for having decided to limit the height of the Ganesh idol to 50 feet from next year. The committee this year faced difficulties during the procession. It took the 60-foot Khairatabad Ganesh idol 18 hours to reach Hussainsagar. The procession that started on Monday night, could reach Tank Bund only on Tuesday evening and the idol was immersed at around 6.30 pm on September 9. Since 1954, the committee has been increasing the height of the Ganesh idol every year by a foot. This year, the height of the idol touched 60 feet. “From next year, we will maintain 50-foot height keeping in view all aspects, including safety, security, procession and immersion,” said the co-mmittee.

“Another reason to limit the idol size is the height of the Sankaraiah Building. The 60-foot building is named after S. Sankaraiah, a freedom fighter and the founder of the Ganesh Utsav Committee. In 1954, he had started the tradition of installing a Ganesh idol in front of the building and later we continued it at the same location.” For the first time, a portion of the 4,800-kg Khairatabad Ganesh ladoo, costing Rs 15 lakh, was taken to Tapeswaram, East Godavari district, for sale on the request of P.V.V.S. Mal-likarjun Rao, a sweet-maker. Mr Mallikarjun has been offering the ladoo free of cost for the past four years. However, last year, the ladoo weighing 4,000 kg was damaged in the rain and had to be dumped in the Hussainsagar. This year, the lad-oo maker decided to sell the prasadam to devotees, while the remaining portion was distributed free of cost.