Pune: Ganesh idol immersion processions conclude after 32 hours

Pune, Sep 7 (PTI) Ganpati immersion processions in Pune concluded after more than 32 hours on Sunday despite the coordinated efforts made by the police to ensure an early culmination.

The processions, which began around 9:30 AM on Anant Chaturdashi on Saturday, concluded at 6 PM on Sunday.

More than 3,959 big idols of Ganesh pandals and over 7.45 lakh household idols were immersed in various water bodies.

Pune Police had done meticulous planning with an aim to end the processions and as per the planning, the procession of Manache Ganapati (prominent ones) began on Saturday at 9.30 am, almost one and half hours earlier than previous years.

The arrangements by police and the discipline by key mandals, including Shrimant Dagadu Sheth Ganapati Mandal, worked well as the idols were immersed before 9 pm on Saturday.

Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar said that the processions were carried out peacefully and thanked all the police constabulary and various organisations for the successful conduct of the festival.

Kumar parried the queries regarding the delay in winding up of processions despite the police's efforts.

It is irrelevant how many hours it will take to complete the procession.

"What is important is that all the mandals could end the procession in a peaceful and zealous atmosphere, barring some disputes from some mandals over the time allotted to perform their shows at Alka Chowk. All such misunderstandings were tackled through discussions," he said.

This time, Pune police had introduced timing for mandals and also put restrictions on deploying a number of dhol tasha troupes during their procession to ensure that the procession ends earliest. PTI SPK NSK