For this year’s Ganesh Chaturthi, Hyderabad’s famed Khairatabad Ganesh idol is not just a clay idol catering to the environmental necessities but the tallest ever attempted by the organisers in the last 69 years. With only a couple of weeks to go for the grand festivities to kick off, the idol is slowly coming to life with only a few days of paint job left.

Standing tall at a height of 63 feet and weighing about 50 tonnes, the Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav Committee has gone ahead with an idol that is 13 feet taller than last year amid persistent stress from the government to install an eco-friendly idol that, as per tradition, is to be immersed in the iconic Hussainsagar lake on the 11th day of festival. Since 1954, when a one-foot-tall idol was first installed here, the organisers have followed a tradition of raising the idol’s height by one foot yearly.

Two idol artists – Rajendran, a Chennai-based veteran with 30 years of standing in idol making, and clay artist from Odisha Joga Rao, who had worked on the idol for the first time last year — will work together this time around. Colour artists are from Kakinada’s Satya Arts.

The idol is estimated to weigh 45-50 tonnes. So far 22 tonnes of steel has been used for the frame, while 40,000 kg clay has been brought from Rajasthan; 1000 bags of jute powder of 40 kg each from Yelloor in Andhra Pradesh and rice husk have been collected from Yadadri.

The progress of work took a hit because of rain-induced road works.

“Welding work is presently in progress. Clay work will start next week,” added Sandeep Raj.