3,000 tonnes idol waste fished out from Hussainsagar

Hyderabad: The HMDA had to spend Rs 28.37 lakh this year to undertake the annual clean-up of Hussainsagar. The department had to clear the waste from the Ganesh festival, amounting to over 3,000 tonnes, after the immersion of 90,000 idols during the 11 day festival. 

This year, the expenditure increased as many machines were used to fish out the waste. Around 14 JCBs, 1,200 labourers and amphibious excavators and floating trash collectors were pressed into service during the clean up.  Furthermore, the GHMC had also deployed field staff to collect the waste.

However, the authorities said that these preparations were only meant to retrieve the waste accumulated at the immersion ghat at NTR marg. The idols immersed on Neck-lace Road cannot be taken out this year as the lake’s depth is over 20 meters in this area.

This clean up data in the Pollution Control Board (PCB) showed that level of dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen. 

The data shows that the oxygen level has been low on Necklace Road and at Tank Bund where it dipped to 3.8 and 3.1 mg per litre, respectively. The ideal level is more than 3mg/l. 

The lake is found to have been consuming almost five times more oxygen to break up the PoP in the lake. It consumed 28mg/l and 15 mg/l at Lepkashi and Necklace Road, respectively.