Hyderabad: Ganesh Fest to Roll Into 12th Day, Immersion on Sept. 25

Hyderabad: The Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi (BGUS) on Thursday clarified that the Ganesh idol immersion would be held on Friday, September 25, the day of Ananta Chaturdashi, meaning the celebrations would last 12 days instead of the usual 11.

A representative explained, “The confusion over the 12-day duration of the festival is because Ananta Chaturdashi falls on a Friday. The immersion was decided based on the tithi with the help of religious scholars.”

Representatives of BGUS said the Ganesh festival would begin on Monday, September 14, on Vinayaka Chavithi, with 12 days of celebrations culminating in mass immersion on September 25.

The samithi said it would hoist the National Flag at all mandapams on September 17 and ‘Vande Mataram’ would be sung to mark Hyderabad Liberation Day and commemorate Police Action.

Devotees would take an oath to make Hyderabad infiltrator-free.

The samithi urged all pandal organizers to maintain the ancient traditions of the festival, as around 1.5 lakh mandapams are expected to be set up this year.

For the first time this year, BGUS has constituted an IT committee, with volunteer registrations being conducted online. The samithi will hold continuous meetings with all stakeholders.

A meeting with the police department is scheduled for Friday.

Samithi general secretary Dr Ravinutala Shashidhar said various programmes had been planned for the festival. He urged all mandapams to use Swadeshi products and local vendors to use cow-based products. He said seers from various places would perform pujas during the festival.