Hyderabad: Amid tight security arrangements, thousands of statues of the Hindu deity Ganesh were immersed in Hussain Sagar and 12 other lakes of Hyderabad as the 11-day long Ganesh Chaturthy festival came to an end on Thursday.
A heavy downpour, which brought the city to a grinding halt in the morning, failed to dampen spirits of the devotees as large numbers of people turned up for the ceremony.
Khairatabad Ganesh, the tallest statue in the city at a height of 18 metres, was among the first to be immersed in Hussain Sagar.
Usually the last big statue to be immersed every year, this time organisers agreed for it to be first for the convenience of the people.
Police officials wanted the routine to be changed as last year it was immersed on the second day creating traffic jams and serious logistical problems for officials.
Arrangements for putting the gigantic statue on special open trucks had started around midnight on Wednesday night, and the procession started early in the morning despite heavy rain.
Finally it reached Tank bund around 1pm and a huge crane immersed it in the lake at 1.50pm.
Meanwhile the Balapur Ganesh procession started at around 11am and crossed the historic Makkah Masjid Charminar complex at around 4pm.
Now it was moving towards Moazzam Jahi Market.
Thousands of statues of other areas also joined the procession at different points including Charminar and Moazzam Jahi Market.
The never ending line of the heavy trucks carrying colourful idols I various sizes and shapes and the huge gathering of onlookers brought the normal flow of traffic to a full stop. The arterial road from Charminar to the Hussainsagar lake was barricaded on either aides and other vehicles were not allowed.
Hyderabad City Police Commissioner M. Mahinder Reddy said the procession was so far peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from any where.
Apart from deploying 25,000 personnel, police were also using more than 12,000 CCTV cameras and mobile cameras to keep an eye on potential trouble makers.
Five additional commissioners, two joint commissioners, nine deputy commissioners and 66 assistant commissioners were supervising the security arrangements at different places in the city.
The state director general of police Anurag Sharma was also keeping an eye from a special control room at his office.
As the heavy rains that fell over the past week damaged roads, Hyderabad Municipal Corporation officials worked overnight to fill hundreds of potholes.
With more heavy rains flooding the roads under water, the Ganesh processions had to face many hurdles to reach the points of immersion.
Works on the ongoing Hyderabad Metro project also forced the authorities to divert the vehicles carrying the idols at many places.
In view of the drive by environmentalists against pollution of water bodies, especially Hussain Sagar lake, authorities made special arrangements by creating separate ponds in the lake for immersion. They also deployed the special teams to immediately remove the debris from the lake.
Hyderabad Mayor Bonthu Rammohan Rao expressed happiness over the early immersion of the idols and hoped the process will be completed by midnight.
