Ganesh Immersion: Festive vibe kept alive at Tank Bund

Bustling with groups twinning in their traditional attire, along with police officers and sanitation workers facilitating easy passage; the festive vibe spilled on to the second day

Hyderabad: As the city found itself under a blanket of clouds on Friday afternoon, scores of procession trucks remained in the queue awaiting their turn to immerse Ganesh idols in Hussain Sagar.

Bustling with groups twinning in their traditional attire, along with police officers and sanitation workers facilitating easy passage; the festive vibe spilled on to the second day. Even as some devotees had to wait overnight, spirited tunes and pop music took turns to keep the atmosphere lively. Slogans praising the deity along with confetti blasts became a common sight.

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According to officials, rains on Thursday delayed the immersions which concluded late in the evening on Friday. On the first day of immersion, 3,855 idols were immersed at Tank Bund between 6 am. on Thursday and 7 am on Friday. The majority of these idols – a total of 2197 – were immersed on Thursday morning. Other immersion sites like baby ponds near Jalavihar, and Sanjeevaiah Park, along with NTR Marg also recorded the most number of immersions.

With the Tank Bund road thrown open to commuters on Friday, the road leading from the Secretariat towards Khairatabad flyover saw free-flowing traffic. However, the parallel road towards Secunderabad was largely congested.

Efforts to clean up:

Around 3,000 GHMC sanitation workers split into three shifts at Tank Bund, took up the jarring task of clearing out the garbage and confetti from the roads. Apart from that, authorities also engaged in lifting up the idol remains simultaneously.

While some of the skeletal remains were removed from the water body on Thursday even as the immersion was still in progress, retrieval of the debris was temporarily paused on Friday. Pooja materials and garbage were collected separately with the intention to send some of this for recycling.

Immersion at Tank Bund:

– 36 cranes at 13 locations around Hussain Sagar
– 3,000 sanitation workers clearing out waste on Tank Bund road
– Pooja materials and garbage collected separately