To The Lighthouse: Installed to ward off flood wrath, Lord Ganesh idol on Tapi river draws visitors in hordes in Surat

The organisers said they believe that installation of Lord Ganesh idol on the river will protect them from flood.

Panch Pipla Ganesh Mandal member Parth Sailor, who is an engineer by profession, said, “The motive behind setting up the Ganesh idol in the middle of the river is for the safety of Surat city, which regularly witnesses floods during the monsoon season. During the 2006 floods, our area was submerged in water, and we were stranded in our houses for a few days. We believe that setting up a Ganesh idol in the Tapi River will help us avoid the floods.”

Ever since it was installed earlier this week, the idol has been drawing people in hordes who gather at the bank and capture the sight on their mobile phones, sharing it on various social media platforms. However, keeping in mind the depth of the river during monsoon, only Ganesh mandal members of Panch Pipla are allowed to go near the floating platform in boats for morning and evening aarti.

Besides the river, the mandal has also installed a 5-foot Ganesh idol in a pandal in their street. The mandal members said that on the immersion day (September 6), they will bring back the Ganesh idol from the river and immerse both the idols in a big vessel.

On the making of the floating platform, Sailor said, “The platform is made up of a high-quality fibre (used in ships) which is circular in shape, around 3 meters in diameter. We have erected an 8-foot-tall metal concave structure of 1.5 meters diameter. On top of it, we have installed an LED light that rotates. We have also made arrangements for lighting inside. We have used two anchors used for ships to stabilise the platform structure. It has also been tied off with a rope on the overhang.”
He further said, “We have designed the structure to withstand winds of up to 40 to 50 kilometres per hour. The structure is around 60 meters from Panch Pipla ovara (landing). Every day in the morning, around five youths reach the floating structure and carry out prayer (aarti) in a boat. In the nighttime, 15 of them repeat the same routine.”