Until next year: City bids adieu to Ganpati

MUMBAI: Amid heavy rain, devotees immersed 41,441 Ganesha idols across the city on Thursday, the last day of the Ganesh festival.

MUMBAI: Amid heavy rain, devotees immersed 41,441 Ganesha idols across the city on Thursday, the last day of the Ganesh festival.

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Around 8,016 idols from sarvajanik mandals, 33,319 household Ganesh idols from and 106 Gauri Ganesha idols were immersed from 3pm on Thursday till 9am on Friday.

Friday’s count took the total number of idols immersed this festive season to 2,09,602, compared to 2,17,761 immersions last year. The number of idols immersed on the last day was the least in the past four years.

The number of artificial immersions, on the other hand, were fewer compared to natural immersions on the last day. A total of 3,118 idols were immersed across 31 artificial immersion spots in the 24 wards in Mumbai -- 155 of them were sarvajanik idols, 2,958 household and five Gauri Ganesh.

“While a majority of the immersion processions were smooth owing to the support from the Mumbai police, some processions at Girgaum , Juhu and other beaches went on till late ,” said Tukaram Raut, treasurer, Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti, the umbrella body for Ganesh mandals. “This happened as some of the mandals celebrated their golden jubilee anniversaries. However, police personnel stopped the use of loudspeakers by 12am at most residential areas.”

Some complained of loud processions and traffic snarls. “Noise from political processions using loudspeakers was not stopped till 1am,” said Aadesh Dhodi, a resident of Girgaum. Sutendra Patil, a resident of Parel, said, “My family and I experienced a massive traffic jam at Tulsi Pipe road on Thursday evening. The immersions were smooth owing to help from lifeguards at Girgaum.”