Hyderabad: Never has the 57-feet Khairatabad Ganesh been immersed as early as 2 pm on the final day of the festival. Usually, it takes 24 hours to move the idol from its location to NTR Marg. Till 2015, it would not be immersed till the following day.
This year, however, the idol along with its side structures was in Hussainsagar by 2.30 pm. This cleared the way for thousands of others waiting in the queue. The Balapur Ganesh was the second after Khairatabad, which also was not common.
The law and order and traffic departments persuaded the organisers to begin the immersion journey as early as 7 am on Tuesday. With the city's biggest idol going in first, 40 per cent of the load was cleared.
The journey of Khairatabad Ganesh started at 7 am on Tuesday and the idol reached NTR Marg at around 11 am. There was a delay then as the crane was not available. Finally at 1.45 pm, the idol was placed on the crane base and it took 15 minutes for immersion. After the idol was immersed, the smaller ones were quick to go.
The state government has received praise from netizens for its smooth handling of the event. 'This was the best Ganesh immersion arrangements in the last 8 years, kudos to the police and traffic and municipal corporation,' tweeted Vijay Sai from Hyderabad.
Raj Kumar, member of the Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav Samithi, said that preparations were completed a day earlier and the preparation for the procession was done at midnight.
