Ganesha Immersion Picked Pace by Evening

Hyderabad:Chants of “Ganesh Maharaj Ki Jai,” “Ganapati Bappa Moriya, Agle Baras Tu Jaldi Aa” reverberated across Hyderabad since the crack of dawn on Tuesday. The first idol was immersed at 5.45 am at Hussainsagar, witnessed by a small crowd of early risers. Lakhs of people were at the spot by 9 pm, when over 1.02 lakh idols were reportedly immersed in the city in different venues.

When the first idol was immersed at the Hussain Sagar lake at around 5.45 am, the area had a small crowd. For some time, only a few idols were immersed at NTR Marg. The situation was the same at other lakes and artificial ponds. As the day progressed, the crowd gradually increased and so did the number of processions at both Hussainsagar and 73 artificial ponds.

While the 70-feet Khairatabad Sapta Mukha Maha Shakti Ganapati was immersed at 1.30 pm, the Balapur Ganesh was bade adieu at 4.12 pm. Both these show-stopper Ganeshas drew massive crowds at NTR Marg.

In an attempt to reduce the crowd at Hussainsagar, police urged the organisers to perform nimajjanam of smaller idols in artificial ponds, while those idols which were slightly bigger in size were diverted to lakes.

Decked up cars with Ganesha idols on the bonnet, groups and families in colour coordinated traditional attire, teen mar bands, DJ music blazing out and people dancing to their tunes were a common sight on the city roads.

Apart from huge processions, there were offbeat Ganesha idols, which caught the attention of people. A Ganesha idol made with coins and the one wearing an Indian cricket jersey were some notable ones.

In order to ensure smooth conduct of Ganesha immersion, all officials of line departments including the police and GHMC were on their toes, with Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy himself stepping out on field to inspect the arrangements at Hussainsagar.

A total of 25,000 police personnel were deployed on the immersion duty in addition to paramilitary forces, while the GHMC pressed into service its 15,000 staff.

Transport minister Ponnam Prabhkar and senior bureaucrats conducted an aerial survey. Information collected using drones was sent to field-level officials by the cops at the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC).

Dipankar Swami from Ujjain attended the 45th Samukhik Bhagwan Ganesh Nimajjanam as the chief guest. Kamlanand Bharathi of the Bhuvaneshwari Peetham was present at this Nimajjanam organised by the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samiti. They addressed the crowd at Charminar and Moazzamjahi Market. Laddu auctions were also held in different parts of the city with the Balapur laddu getting auctioned for Rs 30,01,000.