More Ganesh Idols Delay Immersion Timeline
Police personnel at People’s Plaza estimated that the immersions would be completed by 1 am on Monday, so all roads are fully open on the first working day of the new week: Reports
HYDERABAD: The immersion of Lord Ganesha idols continued on Sunday, with more than a thousand idols immersed in Hussainsagar. Several idols, which began their processions late, or idols which came from distant parts of the city were immersed on Sunday.
Officials said 3,03,585 idols were immersed within the GHMC limits until 8.45 pm on Sunday, with 79,217 idols from Khairatabad zone, 69,798 idols from Kukatpally zone, 45,486 idols from Secunderabad zone, 44,555 idols from Serilingampally zone, 40,379 from LB Nagar zone and 24,150 idols from Charminar zone.
Police personnel at People’s Plaza estimated that the immersions would be completed by 1 am on Monday, so all roads are fully open on the first working day of the new week.
At 7 pm, hundreds of idols, most of which were transported on heavy trucks, continued to line up at Hussainsagar. As the immersion of important and large idols was completed by late Saturday, authorities were able to immerse idols at a quick pace. Of this, 1,14,566 idols were between 1.5 feet and 3 feet, and 1,89,019 idols were above 3 feet tall.
Though the police expected the immersion process to complete by 1 pm on Sunday, the higher line-up of idols led to some delay.
City police, in coordination with GHMC, allowed trucks to move from the Secretariat and NTR Marg towards Indira Priyadarshini statue and towards People’s Plaza, a practice that Hyderabad police commissioner C.V. Anand said he had started in 2011. From there, trucks were made to take a U-turn and, depending on the idol size, either sent towards People’s Plaza or directed towards NTR Marg for immersion. After immersion, the trucks were made to move out towards Liberty circle and Himayatnagar.
Police commissioner Anand on X said that the police faced a 50-hour bandobast for immersion this year. Talking about the struggles police had to face in managing the celebrations, he said “Our throats are hoarse and bodies are dead tired and no one has slept the entire 5th night due to late immersions yesterday night, except for small sleep sessions in the vehicles on the road itself.”
“All through the night all of us worked hard to push the idols and the huge crowds accompanying them towards HS lake, with lots of idols getting stuck in cable wires, at least 5 to 6 clashes between processionists over who should go first and solving them, general accidents (sic),” Anand said in a tweet.
“This has slowly grown from a 24 hour bandobust to 40 hours last year and 50 hours this year! It’s expanding year on year and becoming more and more difficult to handle,” Anand noted on his X handle.
By evening, all traffic restrictions around Hussainsagar were lifted. “We first opened Basheerbagh road and Liberty Junction for general traffic, and then the old Ambedkar statue and Telugu Talli flyover junctions, and then the NTR Marg and Khairatabad flyover traffic”, Anand said.
GHMC officials said that the coordination between city police, HYDRAA, HMWSSB, TGSPDCL and other departments allowed for a smooth conduct of the immersion celebrations, and thanked citizens and devotees for their cooperation.
