Mumbai: Several millions of people in Mumbai and in other parts of Maharashtra trooped out onto the streets to bid an emotional adieu to their favourite elephant-headed Lord Ganesha at the end of the 10-day Ganapati festival on Wednesday. The day started with colourful revelry, as people sang bhajans and danced, and performed aartis of around 100,000 big and small idols of Lord Ganesha before taking them in huge processions to the beats of drums in the fourth and final phase of immersion on Wednesday.
An estimated 450,000 idols were taken out for immersion in the rest of Maharashtra, especially the coastal Konkan region, in the state's biggest annual religious festival, first popularised by Bal Ganghadhar Tilak as a public event to mobilise support for the cause of freedom from British colonial rule. The celebrations completed 120 years this year. The processions progressed slowly, as a sea of humanity accompanied the idols to designated immersion sites at the beaches, creeks, ponds, lakes, wells and specially created artificial immersion spots around the city, and big and small rivers in the rest of Maharashtra.
Mumbai's traditional immersion spots are the beaches at Girgaum Chowpatty, Shivaji Park, Worli, Juhu, Versova, Marve, Madh Island, Manori, Gorai, Thane Creek, Bhayander Creek, Vasai Creek and a lake inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivli. The Mumbai and state police have made elaborate arrangements for security, traffic regulations and safety of the devotees everywhere, with other state and central agencies on stand-by to tackle any emergencies. In Mumbai, besides the police, State Reserve Police Force and Rapid Action Force, helicopters of Indian Navy and Coast Guard conducted regular sorties to keep an eye from the sky.
The official agencies are helped by personnel of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Home Guards and trained volunteers of the 11,000-plus Ganeshotsav organisations to maintain security and order. In an unprecedented development this year, at Girgaum Chowpatty, hordes of stingray and jellyfish washed ashore. This spot is the biggest immersion spot for some of the most gigantic idols measuring 20 feet tall and above, and the deaths of sea creatures caused concern. Last week, during the first phase of immersion, around five dozen devotees were stung by these fish, creating a scare among the people.
