Tank Bund Ready for Immersion

 Hyderabad: Barely a day ahead of the nimajjanam, officials started immersion of Lord Ganesha idols from the Tank Bund side on Sunday night. The stretch was clear till evening but 15 cranes had moved in there by 9 pm.

The cranes were given individual numbers, as is the process every year, and they started immersing idols. Last week, posters had been set up at the roads leading to Tank Bund and on the stretch itself, barring immersion of idols. Officials had also set up barricades to prevent the immersion of even small idols.

Big idols were not taken to Tank Bund on Sunday; many small idols were immersed by the cranes with the officials of line departments and the police in attendance.

Earlier in the day, some members of the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi demanded that the immersion should be allowed from Tank Bund, and removed a few barricades in protest. They also threatened to hold an agitation if people were stopped from immersing Ganesha idols from the stretch.

In the evening, Hyderabad police commissioner C.V. Anand and senior officials of other departments attended a coordination meeting with the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Committee. In a post on his X handle, he said, “we answered lot of queries about arrangements and demands. I requested them to cooperate with the police for early completion of the immersion by timely movement of idols.”

Cranes have been set up at NTR Marg and at People’s Plaza on PVNR Marg (Necklace Road). A GHMC official said around 50 cranes had been deployed all around Hussainsagar.

As word spread, some families turned up at Tank Bund to immerse their idols. People dressed in traditional attire chanting ‘Ganesh Maharaj Ki Jai,’ holding idols in their hands, headed to the Tank Bund and NTR Marg in groups for the immersion.