394 swimmers, 103 sites, zero public deployment map
HYDRAA has announced a large safety operation for Hyderabad’s Ganesh immersions. The useful part still missing is where the people and equipment will actually be.
HYDRAA says 394 swimmers and response teams are ready for immersions at 103 water bodies.
HYDRAA says it has prepared 394 trained swimmers, 51 Disaster Response Force teams and 21 bike-borne teams for Ganesh idol immersions on September 25 and 26. The plan covers 103 water bodies: 47 each in GHMC and Cyberabad Municipal Corporation limits, and nine in Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation limits.
At Hussain Sagar, HYDRAA says 50 swimmers will work each shift, backed by six HYDRAA boats and Tourism Department boats. Commissioner A.V. Ranganath reviewed the arrangements, while Additional Director Varla Papaiah said the swimmers had been “kept ready for deployment”. The numbers are repeated official claims, not an independently published site-wise deployment record.
That distinction matters after six students drowned during an immersion near Peddakanjarla in Sangareddy district on September 16. Police-based reports said the students entered deeper water and encountered a submerged pit; one account noted the absence of lighting and adults at the site. A hostel warden was arrested under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, with the investigation continuing.
HYDRAA has not publicly released the 103-site list, swimmer allocation, response-time targets, lighting plan, ambulance plan or arrangements for unofficial immersion points. A roster is not a rescue plan until someone can say where it is standing.