Mumbai: Thousands of devotees bid an emotional farewell to Lord Ganesh on Sunday by immersing the idols of the elephant-headed deity across Mumbai.
More than 10,000 Ganesh idols have been immersed in the city till late in the evening, said Bhushan Gagrani, commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The 10-day Ganesh festival began in the city with pomp and gaiety on Saturday, with families and ‘savajanik mandals’ (public groups) installing the idols of their beloved god at homes and community pandals.
The idols taken out for immersion on Sunday afternoon after one and a half days were mostly from households.
Chants of “Ganpati Bappa morya, mangal murti morya…pudchya varshi lavkar ya,” urging the Lord to return early next year filled the air as devotees took their idols to beaches and artificial water bodies for immersion.
“Lord Ganesha is the one who brings a lot of prosperity and removes obstacles from our way,” Gagrani told reporters.
Like in the past, the government, BMC and police have made necessary arrangements for the smooth immersion of idols this year as well, he said.
“For the first ‘visarjan’ (immersion) of today (one and a half days), followed by the fifth day, Gouri visarjan (seventh day) and last day (Anant Chaturdashi visarjan), we have made traffic diversions. Arrangements have been made with enough deployment of traffic police here,” he said.
BMC and police have ensured that there are arrangements for separate parking, mobile toilets, flood lights, bodyguards, prayer mandaps (platforms) for devotees and VIP pandals, he said.
“We ensure a rich, seamless and incident-free Ganpati experience here for all devotees,” he said.
As many as 12,000 personnel have been deployed to help citizens with the idol immersion off the beaches and in 204 artificial ponds across the city and suburbs. As many as 71 control rooms have been set up, civic officials said earlier.
They said that 761 lifeguards and 48 motor boats have been pressed into service at the beaches. BMC has also made facilities to collect the ‘nirmalya’ (flowers and other offerings) brought with the idols.
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