Hyderabad: The Khairatabad ‘Bada Ganesh’ this year will be in the Panchamukha Sankatahara Maha Ganapati form, the organiser Ganesh Utsav Committee said on Thursday. The idol will be 69-foot-tall, and around 150 people are expected to complete the work in about 80 days, starting next week. The committee expects the idol to cost more than Rs.1 crore.
“The idol will have five faces, each representing one of the pancha bhutas,” committee convener Sandeep Raj said referring to Agni, Vayu, Prithvi, Jala and Akasha, or fire, air, earth, water and space. The committee performed Karra Puja on Thursday and released the theme at the pandal. Work is expected to begin within a week, ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi on September 14.
“Around 150 people will work on the idol. Artisans and workers will come from Chennai and Kolkata, and the team will work during the day and night to complete it within 80 days,” Sandeep Raj said.
Sculptor Chinnaswamy Rajendran, who has been associated with the Khairatabad idol for four decades, will oversee the work. The team will use clay, steel, dry grass and rice husk, apart from wood for the inner scaffolding. The materials have been sourced from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
A 15-foot Somnath Jyotirlinga will stand to the right of the idol of Lord Ganapati, while Kalika Mata will appear on the other side. Bhathuku Dhiren Yadav is the designer and D. Nikhil is the artist behind structure.
The committee expects 50,000 to 60,000 devotees on regular days and more than one lakh on weekends. “The government and traffic police have always supported us with traffic management and other arrangements. We expect the same cooperation this year,” Sandeep Raj said. The committee is led by president and Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender, chairman Singari Rajkumar and convenor Sandeep Raj.
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