Hyderabad: Lord Ganesha of Khairatabad is in the news again and this year, a massive 61-feet high idol of the Elephant God is built which claims to be the tallest in the country.

Ganesh Chaturthi, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi, the festival marking the birth of Ganesha will be celebrated on September 2 this year. Lord Ganesh idols are installed across pandals and also brought to homes.

Interestingly, Ganesh puja in Khairatabad was started in 1954 with just one foot.

Singari Sudershan Mudiraj, chairman and founder of the Ganesh Utsava Committee in Khairatabad was quoted saying, "This mandap was started with a small Ganesh of just 1 foot in 1954, by my brother S Shankaraiya, who was also a freedom fighter. From then on, the height kept increasing and it got to an astonishing 60 feet in 2014. We then kept decreasing the height of the idol but this year we decided to increase it to 61 feet."

Know about the famous Khairtabad Ganesh Puja 2019:

Workers involved: 150
Time taken to build: Four months
Cost (Approx.): Rs 1 crore
Workers from: Carpenters, moulders and other workers came from places West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and nearby regions.
Idol weight: Approximately 50 tonnes
Puja: September 2 in the presence of Governor ESL Narasimhan and the first lady of the state.
Ganesh Idol 2019: 12 faces of different gods, 24 hands which are holding different weapons and seven horses in the chariot

The event, according to the organisers, is supported by the government agencies like GHMC, HMDA, Electricity Board, Police Department etc.

Apart from arrangements for drinking water, sanitation among others, the organisers have also installed close to 40 CCTV cameras for security purposes.

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