Hyderabad’s Ganesh puja: Big on devotion, bigger on moolah

A helicopter hovering over a Ganesh idol is not an everyday sight, even in a city that goes all out for its biggest festival. On September 24, as an immersion procession wound its way towards the Hussainsagar, the six-seater Airbus H125 showered the idol with flower petals from above. It was a fleeting spectacle, but one that involved considerable logistical arrangements and expense. And it was only a small part of the elaborate machinery that keeps Hyderabad’s Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations running.

Behind the towering idols, elaborate pandals and processions that stretch late into the night lies an economy of its own. Idol-makers, decorators, sound operators, transporters, crane companies, caterers and scores of workers find business in the festival while organisers marshal donations and sponsorships to pay for the spectacle.

The flower shower was organised by Hanuman Youth Association, which installed an idol in Bowrampet.

“An aviation agent contacted me for parking space for the helicopter. It was to arrive from Bengaluru, shower petals on the second day and leave on the third. Since the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and Begumpet Airport charge a lot, they looked at my aerofarm as a parking spot,” says P.R. Singh, owner of Singh Aerofarm in Sangareddy and a retired Indian Air Force squadron leader.

Mr. Singh estimates that the operation, including the related arrangements, could have cost the organisers around ₹20 lakh.

Crunching the numbers

There is no single account book for Ganesh Chaturthi in Hyderabad. The Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi (BGUS) estimates that the festival generates ₹6,000 crore to ₹7,000 crore in economic activity in the city.

BGUS general secretary R. Shashidhar says the festival provides direct employment to around two lakh families and indirect employment to another 4.5 lakh people. Other estimates put the economic activity at upwards of ₹10,000 crore when months of preparation are factored in.

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The money flows from organisers to idol-makers, tent-house operators, decorators, lighting contractors, transporters, sound-system providers, bands, flower sellers, caterers and other workers. Expenditure ranges from a few thousand rupees to several lakhs, beginning well before the idol reaches the mandap.

According to Telangana Police, around 1.24 lakh Ganesh idols were registered on the State’s Ganesh portal this year. This figure covers all of Telangana, not just Hyderabad. Director General of Police C.V. Anand says the actual number across the State could range from 3.5 lakh to 4 lakh if idols installed in homes, apartments and other private premises were included.

Expenditure varies with the scale of the celebrations. A small neighbourhood mandap may spend relatively little on the idol, structure and decoration, while a large one can incur costs running into several lakhs on the pandal, lighting, flowers, manpower and other arrangements.

At Balapur, one of Hyderabad’s best-known Ganesh celebrations, the committee spent around ₹98 lakh on the festival last year, says Kalyan Niranjan Reddy, chairman of the Balapur Ganesh Utsava Samithi. The amount covered the idol, workers, flowers, decoration and pandal arrangements. The committee is yet to complete its accounts for this year.

Mr. Reddy says around ₹30 lakh to ₹40 lakh was collected through chanda (contributions). The remainder came from other donations, advertisements and sponsorships. The procession adds to these expenses, creating another stream of business for transporters, sound operators and other service providers.