HYDERABAD: Just a few hours after the immersion of Ganesh idols on Saturday at NTR Marg, People’s Plaza, Tank Bund and Necklace Road, ragpickers, scrap dealers, and others scrambled to retrieve iron pedestals and other scrap materials of resale value from the lake shores on Saturday. The traffic police had a tough time controlling the traffic movement as they kept the scrap on the footpaths and roadsides for transporting it in vans and trucks to scrap godowns.
A large number of youth including children and labourers hired by the scrap dealers arrived at the immersion points early on Saturday morning to fish out material they could get from the idols. A large number of idols were floating on the surface waters, a few hundred labourers ascended up on them to retrieve remains of iron pedestals, mangled pieces of iron and other scrap, some used ropes to bring them up.
A few youngsters did the unthinkable as they literally smashed the PoP idols to separate the steel material. Some of them even got into heated arguments as they went about collecting the idols and metal pedestals which fetch anywhere between Rs 600 and Rs 800 depending on the quantity. Many scrap dealers engaged workers on a contract basis to pick up the scrap.
This apart, idol makers from L B Nagar, Pedda Amberpet, Medchal, Hayathnagar and city outskirts were also seen collecting small-size Ganesh idols but not for the scrap material. They hired public transport vehicles to transport the idols to their respective areas. When asked about the reason behind retrieving the idols, idol maker, Mahesh Lalu who is temporarily residing at L B Nagar said that they would utilised the idol next year by painting them. It is estimated that mild steel worth Rs 100 crore is used for the pedestals and support structures of the idols.