The four days of the Durga Puja festivities in West Bengal came to an end this evening with the idols of the goddess and her four children being immersed on the occasion of Mahadasami.
Most of the idols immersed today were those worshipped in households in the metropolis, while the big budget pujas have a Wednesday deadline set by the Kolkata Police to comply.
“It is hard to give the exact number of images to be immersed today, but this should be roughly 450. All images will have to be immersed by Wednesday,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Jawed Shamim said.
An additional 3,000 security personnel would keep watch on the ghats across the city and seven watchtowers have been constructed to keep watch during the immersion process, he said.
As a safety measure, divers from the Kolkata Port Trust were at hand at the ghats on the river Hooghly.
“We have deployed three divers and two assistants who will be on duty from 6:00 pm to midnight for the next three days, KPT sources said.