After hosting for 11 days, the city erupted into a riot of colours and festivity to bid adieu to thousands of idols of lord of all obstacles, Ganesha here on Monday. Extended delays that marked the centralised idol immersion procession from Balapur on the outskirts to Hussainsagar lake in the heart of the city, did not deter the enthusiasm of crowds who thronged the streets and roads in large numbers from morning itself.
The main ‘Ganesh Nimmajan Shobha Yatra’ took off from Balapur after the auction of ‘laddu’ fetching Rs.9.50 lakhs, a bid which was Rs.24,000 more than last year’s , a couple of hours beyond schedule.
The procession did not pick up till late in afternoon but those lining up since morning on either side of Aliabad to Charminar stretch, waited patiently. A trickle of vehicles started to pass along around 1.30 p.m. and the reception point at historic Charminar was bereft of much activity till 2 p.m. Then, once the cavalcade began to roll out, the myriad forms of Ganesha were greeted with dance, music and slogans.
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From Charminar, the procession wend its way through Patherghatti, Afzalgunj, Moazzam Jahi Market, Abids and Basheerbagh to head for Tank Bund where elaborate arrangements with 23 big cranes were made for immersion. The roads were also dotted with ‘prasadam’ distribution centres set up by different social organisations where drinking water sachets too were provided. There was heavy police presence everywhere and most streets connecting with main thoroughfares were barricaded.
Children, women and the elderly too were present in good numbers and several youngsters in their traditional finery joined the procession with dances and songs. Like every year, colour was added by Pardiwadi residents with their vehicle which came decked with different fruits, groups of children bringing idols on bicycles and flower bedecked trucks rolling along.
The Home Minister, Nayani Narasimha Reddy, visited Charminar and inspected the arrangements around noon. Apart from office bearers of Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi, former Mayor and Maheswaram MLA, Teegala Krishna Reddy and former MLA, Baddam Bal Reddy addressed the procession from the special dais set up at Charminar.
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