Mumbai, Sep 25 Chants of “Ganpati Bappa Morya” and rhythmic beats of traditional dhol-tasha reverberated across Mumbai on Friday as thousands of devotees bid an emotional farewell to Lord Ganesh on the final, 12th day of the festival.
As immersion processions wound their way to seashores and artificial ponds, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said 16,154 Ganapati idols had been immersed till 9 pm.
No untoward incident was reported anywhere even as lakhs of devotees took part in the final day processions, it said.
Despite the Bombay High Court’s directives about avoiding noise pollution and civil society campaigns against the use of DJ systems, loud music and bursting of firecrackers marked several processions all through the day.
The extensive use of ‘gulal’ powder left city roads covered in pink. In Lalbaug and several other areas, roads were also littered with the confetti showered on idols.
Besides 772 ‘sarvajanik’ or community Ganpati idols of Ganesh Mandals, 14,864 household idols and 518 idols of goddess Gauri/Hartalika were immersed during the day.
The immersion procession of the famous Lalbaug-cha Raja Ganpati had reached the Khada Parsi statue at around 11 pm, while Chinchpokali Chintamani was at Arthur Road junction.
Both were headed for Girgaon Chowpatty, one of the main immersion points on the western coast of Mumbai, where crowds surged in the evening.
After puja and aarti at Ganesh pandals, immersion processions of several prominent Ganesh mandals began in the morning with energetic chants, traditional music and showers of gulal and flower petals.
A total of 5,715 Ganesh idols had been immersed till noon.
Ganeshotsav, the state festival of Maharashtra, began on Ganesh Chaturthi on September 14 this year.
Colourful and vibrant processions were also taken out in other Maharashtra cities including Pune. Processions were expected to continue into the early hours of Saturday.
A large number of devotees, including women and children, gathered in the Lalbaug-Parel area in central Mumbai to watch the colourful processions and ‘pushpavrushti’ (showering of flower petals on Ganesh idols) and soak in the festive atmosphere.
Processions of other famous Ganapati idols, including Mumbai-cha Raja of Ganesh Galli, Curry Road-cha Kaivari, Parel-cha Raja, Mahaganapati of Kalachowki and Ganapati of Tejukaya Mansion, began before 11 am.
The Lalbaugcha Raja Ganpati, which draws massive crowds, was taken out of the pandal around 1 pm. It moved out of the Lalbaug area around 6 pm, while the idol of Chintamani and many other prominent Ganesh mandals followed it.
After ‘pushpavrushti’ at Shroff Building in Lalbaug, the Ganesh idols proceeded towards Girgaon Chowpatty and Dadar Chowpatty.
In other parts of Mumbai too, immersion processions were being carried out with enthusiasm. In Borivali, the procession of ‘Upnagar cha Raja’ was also heading towards its immersion point.
Several processions were accompanied by traditional dhol-tasha troupes, while devotees danced to devotional songs.
The Mumbai police and BMC made elaborate arrangements on the final day of the festival to facilitate safe immersions.
More than 24,000 police personnel were on duty on city roads, while the BMC had deployed 25,000 staffers, officials said.
The civic body had deployed lifeguards, ambulances, medical teams and cranes at 67 natural immersion sites and 383 artificial ponds.
(PTI News)
