HYDERABAD: Stating that the pollution caused by the immersion of PoP idols in lakes is literally bringing the water bodies to the point of extinction, a bench of the Telangana High Court on Thursday ordered the State government to ensure that no Ganesha idols made of Plaster of Paris (POP) or any other synthetic material is immersed in the Hussainsagar or other lakes in the State.
Last year, the Supreme Court permitted the State to go for immersion of PoP idols as a last resort but prohibited immersion of PoP idols in the Hussainsagar from 2022. On Thursday, the High Court ruled that the State government must issue a clear GO setting forth alternative arrangements for the immersion of Ganesh idols made of PoP and other materials in water bodies other than Hussainsagar or any other lake and these orders must be issued well before the start of the Ganesh Chaturthi in the State, which is on August 31, 2022.
Additionally, idol makers are free to create and sell Ganesh idols made of PoP since the court has not issued any orders prohibiting their use. However, the court has prohibited the state from submerging such Ganesh idols in any lake in the State. The Court instructed the State government to proceed with the immersion in those 25 baby ponds after it told the Court in 2021 that they had developed them inside the boundaries of the GHMC for the purpose of submerging the Ganesh idols.
The Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) and the commissioners of the GHMC, HMDA, and Ganga Bowli Hyderabad were asked by Om Prakash and three other petitioners to be allowed to sell the Ganesh idols that had been prepared before Covid-19 spread throughout the state and the nation.
Telangana Ganesh Murti Kalakaar Welfare Association and nine other petitioners from Ganga Bowli Hyderabad also filed a writ. Hearing on these PILs and writs was adjourned until September 15, 2022.