Well, the D-Day is here.
This is the day when the city bids adieu to Ganapathi Bappa after 10 days of celebrations.
This time, though, things have become a bit complicated thanks to the proposed Telangana March. Late on Friday, an agreement between the government and its advocates has lifted the spirits of not only Ganesh devotees but also the police personnel.
There’s a reason for this. The police had asked utsav organisers in the twin cities to finish the immersion process by midnight Saturday. But everyone knows it is next to impossible. Every pandal organiser, from Khairatabad to Balapur, pointed out that immersion would go on till Sunday afternoon. One such pandal organiser at Himayathnagar, Narsing Goud, said immersion process would go on like every year. “The number of idols is more this time and I do not think there is any change in the arrangements,” he said.
Echoing similar views, Sudhakar, standing near an 18 feet tall Ganesh idol near Golnaka, said, “the venue for immersion is the same, the number of cranes is the same, the public would be more as there are more idols this year. One Ganesh idol procession that was taken out last night took 8 hours to reach Hussain Sagar.
So, on the final immersion day, things will get even worse.”
The 58 ft tall Khairatabad Ganesh will be the most watched procession. The Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav Committee members said the response from public this year was more and the procession would start anywhere between 4 and 6 pm like previous years and could go on till early morning. “We are confident of finishing the process by midnight,” said S Sudarshan Mudiraj, chairman of the committee. However, his colleagues believe the immersion might get even delayed depending on the route clearance by police authorities. “We will start as usual but this year everything depends on the route clearance by police. We have around 1000 volunteers and all the arrangements for peaceful immersion is done. Now we leave everything to the authorities. If they want to finish off the process soon, they can,” said D Balakumar of the committee.
When contacted, representatives of the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samiti sounded cautious. “We have appealed to all the pandal organisers to start the process early so that everything is over by midnight. But practically that is not possible. We can say, immersion of Hyderabad idols would get over by 8 pm but the idols from Secunderabad usually start late in the evening. So, we have requested the authorities to let us continue with the immersion atleast till morning,” said Kirodi Mal of Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samiti. According to him, there was a 20% increase in the number of idols for immersion this year. He added that the samiti has also asked the TJAC to cooperate with the immersion process as the samiti was supportive to the cause of Telangana.
The procession from Balapur in the Old City usually starts by 10 in the morning and ends late at night. This year, the police authorities have requested that the procession start by 9 a.m. Kirodi Mal of Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samiti, said, “we have asked the procession not to stop at places like Shalibanda and all for long. Usually, the procession stops there for an hour or so but this year we would be stopping for only a few minutes.” Police authorities said they have taken all possible measures for a peaceful and early immersion. With the Telangana leaders and government sealing a deal, it will be peaceful but early? Nah!!
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