Thousands Bid Farewell To Khairatabad Ganesha

Amidst slogans and chanting by thousands of excited devotees, the most popular Ganesh idol of the twin cities and almost always the most towering one, the Khairatabad Ganesh idol, named Sri Panchamukha Rudra Maha Ganapati this year, was immersed in the Hussain Sagar lake this afternoon.

The 40-feet idol was the first to start towards the nearby lake at 7:30 am on Sunday for the immersion.

The huge procession of the devotees, befitting the size and the popularity of the idol, wound its way through the different streets of the state capital for about 6 hours.

Thousands of people living along the streets thronged their apartment buildings to have a glimpse of the mammoth idol, and the artistes with bonams on their heads dancing in front of it.

Authorities arranged 400-ton special cranes for the immersion, and amid loud chants of "Jai Bolo Ganesh Maharaj Ki, Jai", the idol was immersed in the Hussain Sagar lake from crane No 4 of the Tank Bund, by 3 pm.

Earlier, hundreds of other idols brought from different parts of the city were immersed in the lake until Sunday afternoon. Lakhs of devotees intensely watched the immersion ceremony of the idols along with their family members.

Minister Srinivas Yadav oversaw the immersion of the idols from a machine boat in the Hussain Sagar lake. Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi, Hyderabad Commissioner of Police Anjani Kumar and others too monitored the arrangements.