75,000 idols immersed in 35 waterbodies

HYDERABAD: Thousands of devotees immersed Ganesh idols at various designated locations across the twin cities on Friday, amid fanfare, rain, and tight security. The annual ritual, which has now grown into a massive event, saw an estimated 75,000 idols of various sizes immersed in various waterbodies.

The 50-foot clay idol of Khairatabad was immersed at Crane No 4 at 7.07 pm, while the Balapur idol, which had travelled approximately 20 kilometres to the Hussainsagar, was immersed at Crane No 6 at 10.32 pm. The immersion of other idols is expected to last until Saturday morning.

Over 50,000 officials from various departments, including the GHMC, the HMDA, the HMBW&SB, the Hyderabad and Cyberabad police, the fire brigade, and the SRPF (State Reserve Police Force) collaborated to ensure a peaceful immersion.

Despite some violations, such as granting permission for DJs after four years and allowing Plaster of Paris (PoP) idols into teh Hussainsagar despite Supreme Court orders, the immersion went on peacefully. The showers welcomed the crowds, who joyfully celebrated the immersion process. The most rain fell in the old city. On Friday, Rajendernagar received 86 mm of rain, Shivarampally received 65 mm, and Golconda 49.8 mm.

Over 2,000 police officers had been deployed to ensure a smooth immersion procession, while the water board had set up 196 camps at immersion sites. The roads and building department's electrical wing deployed 75 generators at various locations to ensure proper lighting, HMDA deployed 1,000 workers to remove idol remains immediately after immersion, and the entire Tank Bund, Necklace Road, NTR Marg, and all other immersion spots were decked out with 34,926 temporary lights arranged by the electricity department.

To deal with any emergency situation, two National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, 38 fire tenders, 12 boats, and 10 swimmers were deployed. A total of 35,000 police officers have been deployed within the jurisdictions of three police commissionerates: Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Rachakonda. From state police headquarters, Director General of Police Mahendar Reddy closely monitored and reviewed the procession in Hyderabad and other parts of the state.

Monitoring was carried out across the state using 10 lakh CCTV cameras.  In addition to the CCTV network, 739 cameras have been installed along Hyderabad's main procession route. The massive monitoring system includes ten drones, four camera-mounted vehicles, and two mobile command control centres. Earlier in the day, ministers Talasani Srinivas Yadav and Mohammad Mahmood Ali, along with the DGP and city police commissioner C.V. Anand, conducted an aerial survey.

Idols were immersed in 35 major water bonds including, Kapra Cheruvu, Saroornagar Lake, Rajanna Bavi, Mir Alam Tank, Palle Cheruvu, Pattikunta Cheruvu, Durgam Cheruvu, Malkam Cheruvu, Gopinagar Cheruvu, Pedda Cheruvu, Gangaram, Gurunatham Cheruvu, JP Nagar, Kaidamma Kunta in Hafizpet, Erla Cheruvu, Manjeera Road, Vinayaka Nagar Rayasamudram Lake, RC Puram, Sakicheruvu, Patancheruvu, IDL Tank, Pragathinagar Cheruvu, Hasmathpet Cheruvu, Sunnam Cheruvu, Pariki Cheruvu, Venellagadda Cheruvu, Suraram Cheruvu, Kotha Cheruvu (Alwal lake) and Safilguda lake and 74 baby ponds.