Khairatabad Ganesh Goes Without Tapeswaram Laddu Prasadam

Hyderabad: A prominent feature of the famous Khairatabad Ganesh is the massive laddu prasadam which will be missing this year.

According to the organisers, ‘Sri Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav Committee’, it was decided not to place the massive laddu this year. They stated that there was a stampede when distributing the laddu on the final day of the festival, last year. Police had to intervene and bring the crowd under control on that occasion, they said.

The huge Ganesh idol used to get a jumbo laddu from Tapeswaram in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. The Khairatabad jumbo laddu has its significance on the similar lines of Balapur laddu with thousands of devotees gathering every year to have 'laddu prasadam', which is distributed by the Ganesh Utsav Committee, Khairatabad amid tight police security on the immersion day. In 2015, a jumbo laddu weighing around 6,000 kg was brought for the Khairatabad Ganesh. However, the organisers had a tough time controlling the swelling crowd and finally the laddu was looted.

Meanwhile, festivities at the Khairatabad Ganesh began with religious fervour amid the chanting of vedic hymns and devotional songs on Friday morning. Telangana and AP Governor ESL Narasimhan accompanied by his wife Vimala Narasimhan joined the rituals.

The height of the idol was also reduced to 58 feet this year, the 63rd year consecutive year that the idol was installed in Khairatabad. "The height was gradually reduced each year from the 60th year," the organisers said.

Prominent politicians, celebrities and people from all walks of life queued at Khairatabad since the early hours of Friday to have a darshan of the massive Ganesh idol.