13 September,2024 10:11 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Pic/AFP
Nearly 48,000 idols were immersed in Mumbai by 12 am, which is the sixth day of the Ganeshotsav 2024, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Friday.
Of the 48,044 idols immersed in the sea and artificial ponds, 41,154 were household ones, 535 belonged to 'sarvajanik mandals' (community groups) and 6355 were of Goddess Gauri, the civic body said.
Of these, 17,603 household idols, 124 Sarvajanik Ganapati idols and 2,482 idols of Gauri were immersed in artificial ponds. No untoward incident was reported anywhere during the immersion, the civic body added.
Devotees immerse idols after one-and-a-half days as well as the fifth, sixth or seventh day of the Ganeshotsav 2024, which commenced on September 7 and will culminate on Anant Chaturdashi on September 17.
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.
"Lord Ganesha is the one who brings a lot of prosperity and removes obstacles from our way," Bhushan Gagrani, commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 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, Gauri visarjan (seventh day) and last day (Anant Chaturdashi visarjan), we have made traffic diversions. Arrangements have been made with enough deployment of traffic police," 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.
