Navy, Coast Guard deployed in Mumbai for Ganesh immersions

MUMBAI - The Indian Navy and Coast Guard will join the state police to provide security for Wednesday’s Ganesh idol immersions all over Mumbai, officials said here Tuesday.

Coast Guard choppers will continuously hover over the city keeping a strict vigil while naval patrol boats and naval divers will be stationed at strategic locations.

Police will be out in full strength all over the city and in suburbs for the immersion ceremonies which are expected to start from daybreak Wednesday.

Security has also been beefed up in neighbouring Thane and the entire Konkan region comprising Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, besides Pune, where Ganeshotsav is celebrated in a big way.

As per last year’s estimates, round 150,000 big and small Ganesh idols will be taken out in processions from homes and major Ganesh mandals, drawing over six million people, including hordes of domestic and foreign tourists, on to the streets Wednesday.

The Ganesh idols varying from gigantic ones measuring several metres tall to tiny, hand-held ones, will be taken for immersion at various locations, on the beaches of the Arabian Sea, to creeks, rivers, lakes, ponds, reservoirs and artificially-created immersion sites dotting the city and suburbs.

Mumbai’s major immersion site is the Girgaum Chowpatty, where gigantic idols of the elephant-headed god, including the revered Lalbaugcha Raja, Ganesh Gully idols and other huge ones will be immersed amidst chanting of religious hymns and shouts of ‘Ganapati Bappa Moraya, Pudhachya Varshi Lavkar Ya’.

The other prominent immersion sites include Dadar Chowpatty, beaches at Juhu, Versova, Marve, Manori, Madh Island, Gorai beach, the Mithi tiver and its branches, and the water bodies in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

As many 27 sites are located along the seashore, posing a challenge to the authorities to maintain security as well as safety of the Ganesh revellers and devotees who would throng the immersion venues all day.

Mumbai Police and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation have made elaborate on-site safety and security arrangements at all the immersion sites.

Metal detectors, closed circuit television cameras, hand-held metal detectors, road blocks, loudspeakers and floodlights have been installed at most of the venues to ensure the immersion ceremonies pass off without any untoward incidents.

Elaborate traffic arrangements have also been made with suitable diversions and one-way routes to ensure that processions of Ganesh idols are not hampered or delayed as they wend their way to various immersion sites.

Most schools and colleges, private offices and media houses will remain closed for the day, which has been declared a holiday.