Nimarjanam Smooth, Thousands See Off Khairatabad Ganesh

Amidst the sloganeering of thousands of excited devotees and to loud drumbeats, the most towering and popular Ganesh idol of Hyderabad, the idol in Khairatabad of the deity named Sri Chandikumara Ananta Padmanabha Maha Ganapathi, was immersed in the Hussain Sagar lake this afternoon.

The 57-feet likeness of the elephant-faced god started towards the lake at 7:30 am on Tuesday for the immersion. The huge procession befitting the size and popularity of the idol wound its way through the streets of Hyderabad, with thousands thronging both sides of the road and atop buildings to have a glimpse. With the Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav Samithi deciding to go eco-friendly and shift to a clay idol from the next year, numerous devotees thronged the Hussain Sagar surroundings, too, to have a glimpse of the last Plaster of Paris idol.

The authorities arranged special imported cranes and immersed the idol by 2 pm. Men, women and children watched with awe as the towering structure was lowered into the lake with the help of the giant cranes.

Tens of thousands of other idols, too, were immersed in the lake, with huge numbers of devotees gathered. About 90,000 idols were reported to have been immersed in various lakes in the Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda limits.

The police ensured a smooth passage of the processions from various localities. Hyderabad Police Commissioner M Mahendar Reddy said that over 26,000 police personnel had been drawn from Hyderabad and other Telangana districts, and also from the Central para-military forces, for the event. The cops heaved a sigh of relief as the Nimarjanam was peaceful and completed in a record time. The state government had declared a holiday for government offices, schools and colleges in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, and there was therefore little vehicular traffic on the city roads barring the idol processions on the main procession route from 9 am.