Hyderabad wraps up Ganesha immersion, 40,000 more idols were immersed this year

Around 50 idols were immersed at each spot from Wednesday night till early Thursday at Hussainsagar. By evening only one crane was present at Tank Bund and that too would be removed, said an official present at the site. “We will head home around 2 pm,” said Bhaskar G, a crane operator, with exhaustion in his voice.

The situation was the same at other city lakes including Saroornagar, Kapra, Mir Alam and IDPL with nimajjanam almost ending by Wednesday evening. There were hardly any idols for nimajjanam at the artificial ponds too.

While Ganesha idols and trucks dominated People's Plaza for days, the acoustics of the space had subtly changed. On Thursday, for the first time, the azaan from the nearby Maqta Muslim residential area could be heard. This was not the only shift as the images on the road had also changed as the city marked the celebration of Milad-un-Nabi, which had been postponed from September 16.

The Maqta area which is located just beneath Necklace Road, adds a notable spatial and cultural dynamic to the immersion site of People’s Plaza. The elevation, with a dividing parapet wall covered in graffiti, separates the two spaces, yet today, the community had spilled over to the main road. As Ganesha idol immersions wrapped up, many Muslims were seen riding bikes with green flags, a common sight during Milad-un-Nabi.

“Ganesh idol immersion was quite something. Noisy for sure, but being a part of this cosmopolitan city means cooperation and brotherhood, the two festivals whether Milad or Ganesha, we like celebrating both with equal mirth,” said a resident of Maqta area on the condition of anonymity.

Rachakonda police commissioner Sudheer Babu stated that the Ganesha immersion celebrations were concluded in peace and lauded the collective efforts of the respective departments. He said the IT cell was monitoring the situation at the field level via CCTV cameras.