Ganesha idol immersion underway across Telangana amid elaborate security arrangements

The immersion of Lord Ganesha idols, marking the culmination of the Vinayaka Chaviti festivities, which started on September 14, was underway here and other parts of Telangana on Friday.

Devotees thronged the immersion points at the famous Hussain Sagar lake and at other waterbodies in the city. The idols arrived at the waterbodies in decorated vehicles. 

Elaborate arrangements have been made in Hyderabad for the immersion of Ganesha idols, with about 30,000 police personnel deployed for security, crowd management and traffic regulation and more than 10,000 CCTV cameras used for surveillance, police said.

The police department has put in place comprehensive security arrangements to ensure that the Vinayaka immersion festivities and the procession in the city is held smoothly, Hyderabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar said on Friday.

He inspected the arrangements for the immersion of Vinayaka idols at Tank Bund and reviewed the security arrangements.

While idol immersions, which began on the third day of the festivities, have been continuing peacefully across the city, the event will culminate on Friday.

The giant sized Ganesh idol installed at the pandal at Khairatabad in Hyderabad was the main attraction of the Ganesh festivities in Telangana. This year, a 69-ft-tall idol was installed at the Khairatabad pandal. The idol has been named as 'Pancha Mukha Sankata Hara Maha Ganapati' wishing for removal of devotees' obstacles.

As part of the arrangements, 24 advanced drones and nearly 100 high-rise cameras have been deployed along major thoroughfares to monitor crowd density and facilitate automated counting of idols, police had said.

Personnel equipped with high-powered binoculars and wireless sets have been positioned on rooftops of elevated buildings along the procession routes, they said.