The 11-day Ganesh Chaturthi festival ended on Tuesday. Over 28,000 idols of Lord Ganesha were immersed in Mumbai, according to an official. This year the Ganpati festival was a low-key affair in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The immersion of idols, which began on Tuesday morning on 'Anant Chaturdashi', continued till the early hours of Wednesday. A total of 28,293 idols, including 3,817 installed at public mandals and 24,476 installed by people at their homes, were immersed in various water bodies in the city by 3 am, an official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
Out of these, 13,742 idols were immersed in artificial ponds set up for the purpose, he said. "No untoward incident was reported during the immersion," the official said. Around 445 immersion facilities were arranged in the city, including 168 artificial ponds, 170 mobile idol collection centres, 37 mobile immersion points and 70 natural immersion spots, he said. The civic body appointed 23,000 staff members at various locations for the smooth immersion rituals, he added.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray earlier called for a simple and low-key celebrations this year in view of the pandemic, and asked Ganesh mandals to undertake social welfare programmes.
Mr Thackeray had also said Ganesh mandals should not install idols more than four feet high during the festival. The Lalbaugcha Raja Ganesh Mandal, which installs Mumbai's most famous Ganpati idol, cancelled the Ganesh Chaturthi celebration this year due to the pandemic.
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