‘Vinayak Sagar’ may have to wait

Hussain Sagar

 The decision of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to build a Vinayak Sagar at Indira Park before the next Ganesh Nimajjan is unlikely to materialize. The GHMC Officials say that the works related to the construction of the tank should have been started by now for it to be ready for the next round of Ganesh immersion.

“No work related to the construction of the Vinayak Sagar Lake has been commenced so far. There is no direction from the State government on the issue, despite the fact that CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao had made his intentions clear long back on building the lake. We are waiting for the government’s orders to commence the works. We cannot complete the works before the upcoming Ganesh immersion as there is very little time left,” a senior official from GHMC’s engineering wing told Metro India.

The official further added that lack of political consensus, so far, on the issue may delay the project further. “There is no political consensus on the issue as some political parties deem it very sensitive to hurriedly take a call. The CM had already taken an initiative by holding an all-party meeting on the issue. This evolvement of the political consensus holds the key for the commencement of the project,” he noted. Another official said that the process of building the Vinayak Sagar lake, which was conceived as an alternative lake to Hussain Sagar for holding the annual Ganesh immersion programme, involved different stages.

“The process involves carrying out of detailed survey at Indira Park to earmark the boundaries of the lake first. After this stage, the process of preparing Detailed Project Reports (DPR) would be taken up along with budget proposals for the government’s approval. Later, we will invite tenders to commence the construction process,” he said. It may be noted here, the Telangana government had taken the decision of constructing the Vinayak Sagar Lake after CM KCR took stock of the status of Hussain Sagar Lake personally. KCR was so moved by the pollution levels of the Lake that he immediately came up with the idea of putting in place an alternative venue for the Ganesh immersion programme. He directed the officials to take steps for the realization of his plan immediately. He asked the officials to use the existing water of the Hussain Sagar lake for filling up of the proposed lake and hold the immersion programme in it.