Mumbai: The ten-day long festival – Ganeshotsav – that commenced on August 25 (Chaturthi) comes to an end. Ganesh Chaturthi is often referred to as the date of birth of Lord Vinayaka. The festival starting from Chaturthi or the fourth day to the fourteenth day (Chaturdashi) of the Shukla Paksha in the month of Bhadrapada in the Hindu calendar is celebrated with much devotion and grandeur.
On Ananta Chaturdashi, devotees bid adieu to Ganpati Bappa.
The Ganesh Visarjan procession has begun across the state of Maharashtra and people are on the streets for the immersion of the divine idols.
You can watch the LIVE streaming of the Visarjan procession here:
Several devotees performed the Koli dance, a traditional dance of the fishermen, at the Lalbaughcha Raja pandal in central Mumbai before the 'visarjan' (immersion) procession began.
In Solapur, the devotees took Ganesh idols from their homes and immersed them in the Siddheshwar lake.
The immersion marks the end of the Ganesh festival, which was popularised by Bal Gangadhar Tilak to bring the people together to create a feeling of patriotism and fight the British Raj.
Over 7,600 Ganesh idols installed at public places and more than one lakh idols in homes will be immersed today, police said.
The smaller idols will be immersed first, followed by the big ones like Lalbaugcha Raja, which will be immersed in the Arabian Sea at Girgaum Chowpatty in south Mumbai.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), police, Coast Guard and Navy have made elaborate arrangements to ensure smooth and safe immersion of the idols.
The prime locations for immersion are Girgaum Chowpatty, Juhu beach, Powai lake, Dadar Chowpatty, Madh jetty and Marve in Malad.
The BMC has appealed devotees to inform the civic authorities as and when they need any assistance or if they are stung by jelly fish or sting ray.
Police have beefed up security and companies of the State Reserve Police Force are also being deployed.
Cranes, watchtowers, drones, CCTVs and floodlights have been arranged to keep a watch on every movement of the revellers and devotees, a police official earlier said.
As many as 40,000 policemen have been deployed to patrol the streets of the city at 119 notified spots to make sure the immersion of Ganesha idols take place smoothly.
Besides this, reports suggest that 3600 policemen and 500 traffic wardens have been deployed on special duty to check smooth traffic movement in the city.
(With PTI inputs)
