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Hyderabad, Sep 25 (PTI) Thousands of idols of Lord Vinayaka were immersed in water bodies in Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana on Friday, marking the culmination of the Vinayaka Chavithi (Chaturthi) festivities.
Amid chants of “Ganpati Bappa Morya’, devotees thronged the immersion points at the famous Hussain Sagar lake and other water bodies in the city. The idols were brought to the immersion points in decorated vehicles.
Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations began across Telangana on September 14 with devotional fervour and gaiety. The idol immersions began on the third day of the festivities.
Telangana DGP C V Anand told reporters that the Ganesh immersion processions proceeded peacefully across the state.
He said the entire immersion activity is expected to be completed by September 26 morning.
The DGP said as many as 1.23 lakh idols were registered on the Ganesh immersion portal all over the state this year, which is an increase of over 8,000 during the previous year.
Of the 1.23 lakh idols registered on the portal, around 88,000 idols had been immersed from day three of the festivities till date, he said.
“What we record on the portal are the idols installed at public places where there is need for traffic management, law and order management and it does not include idols installed in apartments, gated communities or individual residences. If you take the entire number which comes to the lakes for immersion, it will be over 3.5 lakh,” Anand said.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar said the Ganesh idol immersion processions were proceeding peacefully in the city.
The ‘Khairatabad Bada Ganesh’, a major attraction during the festival in the Telangana capital, was immersed in Hussain Sagar lake here in the afternoon, followed by the famous Balapur Ganesh.
The 69-ft-tall Ganesh idol was installed at the Khairatabad pandal.
Meanwhile, the ‘laddu’ offered as ‘prasadam’ at the famous Balapur Ganesh pandal in the city was auctioned for Rs 39 lakh. Last year, it fetched Rs 35 lakh.
The auction of the ‘Balapur Ganesh laddu’ is one of the major attractions of the Vinayaka Chaturthi festivities in Hyderabad, though laddus offered at almost every pandal are also auctioned. Securing the laddu is traditionally believed to bring wealth and good fortune to the successful bidder.
Elaborate arrangements were made in Hyderabad for the immersion of Ganesh idols, with about 30,000 police personnel deployed for security, crowd management and traffic regulation, and more than 10,000 CCTV cameras used for surveillance, police said.
Additionally, 24 advanced drones and nearly 100 high-rise cameras were deployed along major thoroughfares to monitor crowd density and facilitate automated counting of idols, police had said.
Personnel equipped with high-powered binoculars and wireless sets were positioned on rooftops of elevated buildings along the procession routes, they said.
Meanwhile, a 24-year-old man, who was travelling along with a Ganesh idol towards Tank Bund for immersion, died after he allegedly attempted to board a moving vehicle, police said.
The man fell under the rear tyre of the vehicle and sustained severe head injury. Though, he was immediately shifted to a hospital, where the duty doctors declared him brought dead, police said.
As many as 13 people died and 26 others were injured in different incidents including drowning, road accidents and also due to loud DJ sound levels during the celebrations and immersion over the past 10 days, police said.
(PTI News)
