India: 55,000 Ganesh idols dumped in Telangana lakes and ponds

 Ganesh idols dumped

Hyderabad, Sep 13 (PTI): Amid pomp and gaiety, 55,000 Ganesh idols were immersed during the past 24 hours under three police commissionerates - Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda.

Hyderabad Mayor B Rammohan, in an official press statement here, said the immersion began on Thursday morning and ended on Friday evening.

The immersion of nearly 55,000 idols concluded peacefully - 32,800 idols in Hyderabad, 12,000 in Rachakonda and over 10,000 in Cyberabad.

The idols immersion came to a close with the cooperation from all departments, the statement said quoting the mayor.

Besides Hussain Sagar lake in the city, as many as 23 lakes and ponds were demarcated for the immersion and these water bodies would be used for the upcoming Durga Navratri and Bathukamma festivals, the statement said.

In a separate press release, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) said it cleared around 8,000 tonnes of garbage and waste on Friday following the immersion of idols.

The civic body had appointed nearly 10,000 sanitary workers additionally to undertake the cleanliness drive in the city, the release said.

The police had made elaborate security arrangements by deploying 35,000 police personnel of all ranks along with RAF (Rapid Action Force) in the city alone. In the entire state, nearly 55,000 policemen were deployed, a press release from DGP office said.

Officials and personnel from the excise department, forest department, special protection force and police from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh had also been deployed during the immersion, the release said. PTI GDK PTI GDK

Ganesh Charthuti, the11-day event which began on September 2 concluded peacefully with the elaborate arrangement in all respects made by GHMC and other departments including police, it said.