HYDERABAD: The GHMC in coordination with the culture department has made elaborate arrangements for Saddula Bathukamma on Monday. Approximately 3,000 women are expected to carry flower-bedecked deity on their heads in a procession up to Hussainsagar for immersion.
The festival celebrated mainly by women and girls focuses on promotion, enhancement and amalgamation of elements like flowers, nature and water to promote the well-being of people in villages and towns. The corporation has set up 74 baby ponds to facilitate immersion of Bathukamma on Monday and Durga idols later. Authorities informed that about 10,000 women will visit Tank Bund for the floral festival.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Mamidi Harikrishna, director of culture department, said that women will carry 3,000 Bathukammas from LB Nagar to immerse them at Tank Bund. He said about 10,000 women from adjoining areas of the Hussainsagar will participate in the event, which will begin at 5 pm.
Harikrishna said women are participating in huge numbers this season as there are no Covid-19 protocols. Surprisingly, there are many coming from Kukatpally, Dilsukhnagar and other pockets where Telanganites population is quite less. He said people from other states, including Maharashtra, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Assam have been actively participating in Bathukamma festivities, which is a good sign.
The culture department chief said that apartments in the city have become a mini-India, where people from different communities, cultures and states have been participating in the event. Harikrishna said that the Bathukamma festivities are not any more local but global with people cutting across nations to celebrate the floral festival. He informed that the Telangana government is spending Rs 10 crore on the festivities.
The civic body has spent about Rs 1 crore for arrangements at all Bathukamma ghats. The corporation has also installed temporary public toilets for men and women separately. Besides this, they have made a special 500-metre fresh water tank at the Bathukamma ghat near Tank Bund, to avoid stench and contamination of the Hussainsagar.
The GHMC has set up about 740 Bathukammas at all important junctions in the city. Apart from Tank Bund, the GHMC has also made arrangements at Saroornagar, IDL, Hasmathpet, Pragathinagar tanks, Sunnam Cheruvu, Gangaram Cheruvu, Durgam Cheruvu, Palle Cheruvu and Pedda Cheruvu.
Meanwhile, the city police appealed to men to stay away from Bathukamma ghats during the celebrations. Since it is a festival of women, only women will be allowed at the ghats on Saddula Bathukamma Day, a top cop said. He said about 10,000 police personnel would be deployed and CCTV cameras would be installed at every ghat to avoid sporadic incidents.
The festival would be conducted on a grander scale with illumination of all important places and traffic junctions with 3-D lighting. GHMC has installed hoardings at all major junctions, bus shelters, foot over bridges and arches. The corporation has already decked up major junctions in the city with Bathukammas.
As part of special arrangements, the corporation has formed 12 Bathukamma Action Teams (BATs), which includes about 95 sanitary field assistants (SFAs) and about 1,100 sanitation workers. It has put up 28,916 temporary street lights at a cost of Rs 90.34 lakh.
