Ganesh mandals concluded immersions this year 95 minutes ahead of the 29 hours it took in 2012
Despite an increase in the number of Ganesh mandals celebrating Ganeshotsav in the city by a whopping 500, this year it took one-and-a half hour less than last year to conclude the visarjan. The final immersion took place near S M Joshi bridge around 1.55 pm yesterday. The overall visarjan time for the city -- from Wednesday to Thursday -- was clocked at 27 hours and 25 minutes.The early wrap-up was attributed to late night downpour and stringent regulations implemented by the police, such as asking mandals to cut down on the number of performances of dhol-tasha troupes during immersion procession, among others.u00a0
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Surprise, surprise
“We entered Belbaug Chowk at 11.30 pm and completed the miravnuk (procession) in just four hours. Despite our best efforts, this had never happened before. The downpour played a crucial role in helping wrap up immersion processions, and we finished earlier in comparison to last year,” President of Shrimant Dagdusheth Trust Ashok Godse said.u00a0Commenting on Wednesday night’s incessant rainfall, Godse said he has been with the mandal for the last 38 years and had never witnessed such a downpour during the 10-day festival.u00a0“I think the downpour ensured that no untoward incident occurred during the festival. The police had warned us about a possible terror strike some 15 days ago.”
Drummers bid goodbye to Bappau00a0at Belbaug Chowku00a0on Wednesday.u00a0Pics/Krunal Gosavi
Job well done
Lauding the police diktat of restricting the number of dhol-tashaperformances during immersion processions, President of Bhau Rangari Mandal Baba Dafal said, “Last year, we had six dhol pathaks, which were reduced to three this year. This year, we started the procession at 9.15 pm, three hours earlier in comparison to last year, and were done with visarjan by 2.25 am on yesterday.”u00a0Police officials said every year Belbaug Chowk on Laxmi Road becomes a battle zone for members of Ganesh mandals from Laxmi Road and Shivaji Road for right of way. Inspector Bhanupratap Barge of the Faraskhana police station said, “Many a times they fight over petty issues like who will go first, which eventually delays the overall immersion procession. So this year, we issued orders to mandals to strictly observe land discipline and use the single lane demarcated for them.”u00a0
Aqua-rider: A biker wades through one of the flooded streets after the downpour lashed the city on the day of visarjan. Pic/Krunal Gosavi
And It poured
As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune, the city has recorded 70.9 mm rainfall between 8.30 am on Wednesday and 8.30 am on Thursday and predicted thundershowers in the next 24 hours in some parts of the city. The city has received 714.5 mm rainfall since June 1.
Numbers galore
Ganesh mandals that used some of the important roads for visarjan procession
>> Tilak Road: 137
>>u00a0Laxmi Road: 132
>>u00a0Kelkar Road: 43
>>u00a0Kumthekar Road: 37u00a0
2,816
Number of Ganesh mandals that performed visarjan on Wednsesday and Thursday
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