Idol immersions continue for 2nd day; traffic goes for a toss

Hyderabad: The grand Ganesh immersion procession, which marks the conclusion of the 10-day festival, continued for the second day on Wednesday and concluded peacefully with devotees bidding goodbye. Traffic came to a grinding halt due to the movement of a large number of vehicles carrying idols around Tank Bund.

Commuters, who took the road early morning, were seen frustrated, as they were stuck in traffic. People heading to offices, workplaces, and schoolchildren were caught in snarls on several key roads adjoining Hussainsagar. The police deployed for ‘bandobust’ tried to ease traffic, but the spillover continued till the evening hours. Mozam Jahi Market, Nampally, Abids, Narayanaguda, Basheerbagh, Khairatabad, and Liberty witnessed traffic congestion, which was diverted at various points.

Hundreds of trucks carrying idols were lined up around Hussainsagar. The delay is despite officials, including the police and Ganesh Samithi, being asked to complete the procession on the same day. Many pandals continued to flout the relaxed 12 pm deadline for playing loudspeakers. This added to noise and traffic snarls.

The police, who issued a traffic advisory for a day, continued it for the second day afternoon on Tank Bund. Telugu Talli flyover, Secretariat road, NTR Marg, and other roads saw huge traffic gridlock.

The main procession of Maha Ganesh of Khairatabad was immersed on time at 1:30 pm on Tuesday. In fact, the massive procession from Balapur via Charminar and MJ Market, with other small processions joining before reaching Tank Bund, covering about 19 km, was also completed on time, but the processions from other parts of the city were delayed and continued till the second day evening.

According to observers, the pandal organisers delayed the immersion procession and started the vehicles after sunset on the mass immersion day. Interestingly, the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi, which insisted on immersion of idols only on Ananth Chaturdashi, said Ganeshotsav starts with Chaturthi and ends with Anant Chaturdashi. As per belief, ‘Pitra Paksham’ (fortnight) starts from the full moon day, and immersion of idols is not considered auspicious on the day; hence, the immersion and procession should be completed on Anant Chaturdashi only.

As per data released by the GHMC, as many as 1,25,111 idols were immersed in lakes and ponds, including those set up for immersion by authorities. Over 13,810 idols were immersed at three points around Hussainsagar. IDL Lake, Moosapet, saw the highest number of idol immersions at 28,946.

The GHMC sanitation staff was busy clearing garbage from the main routes, surrounding NTR Marg, PVNR Marg, and other procession routes. The GHMC officials closely monitored the cleaning process at the water bodies. All the idol remains, pooja material, and other waste were being removed from the lakes and ponds.