More than 66,700 Ganesh idols immersed till Thursday morning; no untoward incident: BMC

More than 66,700 Ganesh idols were immersed in various water bodies in Mumbai till Thursday morning, civic officials said. The immersion of idols has gone smoothly so far without any untoward incident, they said. As part of the 10-day-long Ganeshotsav, dedicated to the elephant-headed god, idols of the deity are usually immersed after one and a half days, five days, seven days and ten days or as per family traditions.

According to officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), a total of 66,785 “one-and-a-half-day” Ganapati idols were immersed in the sea and other water bodies, including artificial ponds, till 6 am on Thursday.

The idols were taken out and immersed amid chants of “Ganapati Bappa Morya”, the beating of drums, music and dance.

Of the immersion figures so far, BMC officials said, 66,435 were household Ganapati idols, while 350 were “sarvajanik”, or community, idols.

They said 27,736 idols were immersed in artificial ponds, set up to avoid pollution of natural water bodies, across the city. Of these, 27,564 were household Ganapati idols and the rest ‘sarvajanik’.

“No untoward incident was reported anywhere during the immersion,” the BMC claimed.

The BMC has earmarked 69 natural water bodies, including stretches off the coast, and created 191 artificial ponds for immersion this year. Ganeshotsav is one of the biggest festivals in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra. Idols of the deity are brought home and installed at pandals during the 10-day celebrations that start on Ganesh Chaturthi – September 19 this year – and end on Anant Chaturdashi (September 28 this year).