Residents and the devout are all set to rejoice the Ganesh idols immersion procession here on Tuesday. After nine-day Chaturthi celebrations the immersion of a large number of idols will take place with great religious fervour.
In all, 1,800 idols big and small will be immersed in Vinayakula Bavi here and in the river Godavari at Basar in Nirmal district, about 30 km north of the city.
The idol immersion in the city is traditionally started by flagging off a specially-bedecked chariot. The chariot is pulled by 22 pairs of bullocks from Dubba to Vinayukula Bavi (well) followed by a host of people chanting ‘Ganapathi Pappa Moria’ and ‘Jai Ganesh Maharaj ki jai’.
Elected representatives, leaders of all political parties, officials and non-officials take part in the flagging off ceremony. The Sarvajanik Ganesh Mandali managing trustee Bantu Ganesh, in the presence of dignitaries and people will flag it off at around 1.30 p.m. The procession will reach the Vinayakula Bavi at Vinayakanagar passing through Ganj, Gandhi Chowk, Gajulpet, Gol Hanuman and Pulong after midnight. The tradition originally began in 1940 and been continuing since then.
Civil administration and police machinery, meanwhile, has made all necessary arrangements for the smooth passage of the idols. Entire city has come under the CC camera surveillance with an additional 58 cameras being installed besides the existing 62. In view of the communally sensitive atmosphere in the area the police has deployed 1,000 men for security. The administration has engaged 500 personnel for the supervision of civic facilities.
The police have identified 21 problematic and nine hyper problematic places in the city and are keeping round-the-clock surveillance with special mobile parties. Recently-trained constables were posted at each Ganesh pandal for the past couple of days.
Appealing to people to celebrate the Ganesh immersion festival in a peaceful manner, the Commissioner of Police Kartikeya asked them not to get carried away by any kind of rumors. He said that traffic restrictions would be in force from Tuesday afternoon till Wednesday morning and buses going to Hyderabad and other places would be diverted via NTR Chowrasta-Kanteswar-Bypass road-Madhavanagar.
Action would be taken against those creating nuisance consuming alcohol and the use of DJs has been strictly prohibited, said the CP.
