The immersion of idols of Lord Ganesh, which in previous years used to be an elaborate affair at the end of the 10-day Ganpati festival, was being conducted without any fanfare on Tuesday in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 35,000 police personnel were deployed across the city and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation also made arrangements for incident-free immersion of idols on the occasion of 'Anant Chaturdashi', marking the culmination of the 10-day festivities.
Till Tuesday noon, a total of 492 Ganesh idols, including 16 from public pandals and 476 installed by residents at home, were immersed at various visarjan points here, an official said.
Out of these, 10 idols of the public mandals and 199 idols installed by people at their homes were immersed in artificial lakes set up for the purpose, he said, adding there
was no any untoward incident so far during the immersion. Various wings of the police department are manning the streets and the security personnel are also keeping a close watch on the immersion with the help of about 5,000 CCTV cameras, the official said.
In a bid to avoid crowding, police have appealed to people to not perform 'aarti' at the visarjan spots before immersion of idols. Instead, people have been asked to perform the ritual at their residences before stepping out, an official said on Monday.
Mandals or groups that organise Lord Ganesh festival have been directed to strictly follow COVID-19 norms like maintaining social distancing and wearing of masks.
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