Ganesh idol transportation to pandals drew festive buzz across Hyderabad

Dhoolpet is bustling with activity ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi, with artisans completing idols of various sizes for destinations across Telangana and neighbouring States. Meanwhile, police and civic authorities are preparing security, crowd-management and immersion arrangements for the festivities.

Hyderabad: With Ganesh Chaturthi a week away, hectic activity is underway at Dhoolpet, the city’s largest Ganesh idols hub. Giant idols are being lifted onto open-top trucks, swaying carefully through narrow lanes before being moved on to the streets of Hyderabad under the escort of youth, creating a festive buzz.

The dusty, narrow lanes of Dhoolpet have been transformed into an epicentre of divinity, exporting towering, intricately hand-sculpted Ganesh idols in myriad forms and sizes, ranging from 3 ft to 20 ft plus, to neighbouring states such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Odisha, as well as districts of Telangana.

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Across the city’s major thoroughfares, these open-air Ganesh pandals moving to their destinations hundreds of kms away are ushering in the festive buzz.

The Police Commissionerates of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda have strengthened security for the Vinayaka Chaturthi festivities, coordinating with Ganesh Utsav Committees through high-level strategy meetings. Police have issued public advisories and prepared security plans, fire-safety measures for pandals, and crowd-management systems, particularly for major gatherings such as the Khairatabad Ganesh.

Meanwhile, the GHMC, Cyberabad and Malkajgiri authorities are shortlisting immersion sites, including baby ponds, for the ensuing Ganesh idol immersion. A senior GHMC official told ‘Telangana Today’ that a final blueprint with exact locations of baby ponds would be unveiled in a day or two.

Every year, thousands of artisans from states like Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh arrive here months ahead of the festive season. They bring with them generational techniques of molding, painting, and sculpting for idols. For months, they live in cramped workshops at Dhoolpet, breathing life into raw clay and straw, turning divine visions into breathtaking realities.

Behind the towering grandeur of Hyderabad’s Ganesh pandals are the quiet sacrifices of Dhoolpet’s migrant artisans, many of whom travel hundreds of miles and leave their families behind to take up seasonal work.

Artisans describe spending months shaping clay and Plaster of Paris (PoP) idols, working under tight deadlines to meet festival demand. Despite the scale of the celebrations, they said they receive only a fraction of the money associated with the season. A few artisans said the wages earned in these months are expected to sustain their households until the next festival season.