Ganpatis immersed a day late as Mumbai rain halts processions

There were several other sarvajanik and household idols which were taken to Girgaum, Shivaji Park and near Hinduja hospital for immersion on Wednesday.

Goud Saraswat Brahmin (GSB) Seva Mandal, one of the richest, at King’s Circle finally immersed its Ganpati at 11pm on Wednesday.

A devotee immerses a Ganpati idol at Dadar Chowpatty on Wednesday. (Kunal Patil/HT Photo)

It was for the first time in the mandal’s history that the immersion process was delayed by a day owing to floods.

However, the organisers didn’t have any qualms about the delay.

They had already moved the idol from its position after the visarjan aarti on Tuesday. Immersion usually takes place on odd number of days.

“We are more than happy that the visarjan is taking place today, we haven’t had a more successful procession before. Members of other communities have also joined as there is no rain today and a public holiday has been declared by the government,” said Satish Nayak, trustee of the mandal.

There were several other sarvajanik and household idols which were taken to Girgaum, Shivaji Park and near Hinduja hospital for immersion on Wednesday.

“On Tuesday, around 545 household and nine sarvajanik idols were immersed at Girgaum. On Wednesday, the only sarvajanik visarjan was conducted by Goud Saraswat Brahmin at Girgaum. Twenty-five household Ganpatis were also brought here till 7pm. We are expecting around 3,500 of immersions to take place on Thursday,” said Anand Bedekar, member, Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshostsav Samanvay Samiti (BSGSS).

Naresh Dahibavkar, president, BSGSS, went on to add that around 80% of household Ganpatis will be immersed till Thursday and the rest on the last day of the festival.