Over 34,000 idols immersed on last day of Ganpati festival in Mumbai; 3 boys who ventured into sea still missing

Mumbai: A total of 34,452 idols of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Gauri were immersed in water bodies across Mumbai on the last day of the Ganpati festival held under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic for the second year in a row, civic officials said on Monday.
Three boys, who were swept away in the sea waters at Versova jetty here during the Ganesh idol immersion on the culmination of the 10-day festivities on Sunday night, were still missing. Two others accompanying them were rescued, they said.

No other untoward incident was reported in the city during the final day immersions, the officials said.

A Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said of the 34,452 idols immersed on Sunday, 13,442 were immersed in artificial lakes which were created across the city to avoid crowding at natural water bodies.

Out of the total immersed idols, 5,043 were of ”sarvajanik” (public) mandals, 29,060 household Ganesh idols, and 349 idols of Goddess Gauri.

Among the idols immersed in artificial lakes here, 11,387 were household Ganpati idols, 1,890 of public mandals and 165 of Goddess Gauri, the official said.

The famed idol of the ”Lalbaug Cha Raja” Ganesh mandal in the metropolis was immersed at Girgaon Chowpatty by around 3 pm on Sunday, an official earlier said.

The BMC also deployed 715 lifeguards at various natural and artificial immersion sites, he said.

The festival began on September 10 across the state and was celebrated in a low-key manner for the second year in a row in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier, more than 41,000 idols were immersed in various water bodies in the city on the second day of the festival, 66,000 on the fifth day and 15,000 on the seventh day.

The BMC had capped the height of household Ganesh idols to two feet and of public mandals to four feet.