VISAKHAPATNAM: A giant wooden framework, being built for a 60-foot Ganesha idol collapsed near Nathayyapalem in Gajuwaka on Sunday. Fortunately, there was nobody near the site when the mishap occurred.
According to the Gajuwaka police, the organisers of a pandal were planning to have a 60-foot Ganesha idol built this year for Vinayaka Chaturthi and the structure was being set up by artists.With heavy winds blowing on Sunday morning, the structure collapsed in a heap.
Since 2014, there has been a competition among organisers in Gajuwaka, MVP Colony and Dondaparth to instal the tallest of Ganesh idols. With competition getting fiercer, organisers try to beat their rivals by having the biggest one installed. This trend has resulted in a lucrative business for idol-makers as the size of Lord Ganesha crossed 60-foot height. After the festival, the idols are dismantled and immersed at the pandal spot itself.
For many families, it was their first experience of being shifted to relief camps due to floods as this situation was witnessed almost a decade ago. Some of them blamed the floods on inordinate delay in completing the construction of protection wall adjacent to the river bund.
Similarly, residents of Ranigari Thota, Balaji Nagar and Geeta Nagar Karakatta too went back to their locality and started cleaning their premises and household articles.“We have lost everything in the floods. We have to start from the scratch now,’’ rued another resident of Krishna Lanka.
Meanwhile, special teams of VMC carried out cleanliness drive in Geeta Nagar and cleared up the waste accumulated in the streets. The civic body organised free medical camps and arranged tankers to ensure drinking water supply to the residents affected by floods.
The civic body staff along with ward volunteers carried out ground level inspection in Ranadev Nagar Karakatta, Tarakarama Nagar Katta and Bhupesh Gupta Nagar where around 638 families were reluctant to shift to relief camps. During their visit, they provided food, drinking water, milk and medicines to them and asked them to vacate their houses until the situation improves.