In Pimpri-Chinchwad, at Ravat ghat on the river Pavana, a youth was washed away on Sunday evening while immersing a Ganpati idol. He was identified as Vinod Sonar, 25, of Akurdi.
The day-long immersion processions of Ganpati idols in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad on Sunday were marred by incidents of a youth being washed away in river waters, a lathi-charge by the police, theft of cellphones and chain-snatching incidents.
In Pimpri-Chinchwad, at Ravat ghat on the river Pavana, a youth was washed away on Sunday evening while immersing a Ganpati idol. He was identified as Vinod Sonar, 25, of Akurdi.
The fire brigade personnel managed to save his friend. A search operation is on to trace the missing youth.
A member of Dosti Mitra Mandal, Sandeep Mandlekar, sustained injures after a truck knocked him down in Pimpri on Sunday evening.
The mandal members were on their way to Subhashnagar ghat for immersion. He was admitted to the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital.
In Pune, the police resorted to a lathi-charge at Belbaug Chowk after Sunday midnight. The big mandals took their time to move forward, forcing the small mandals to wait at the traffic junction for nearly 7 hours. Members of small mandals protested against the slow pace and also against the sound pollution caused by the big mandals.
When the Mandai Ganpati was heading towards Belbaug Chowk, members of the Janardhan Pawale Sangh’s Kasbacha Raja Ganpati suddenly took the idol on their heads and surged ahead.
They were annoyed by the inordinate delay that the big mandals were making in moving ahead.
Soon other mandals like Shri Ganesh Seva Mandal Trust joined in. At this juncture, members of small mandals and the police had arguments, which led to the police resorting to a mild lathi-charge. Five members of different mandals were detained by the police.
Members of ‘police mitra’, appointed by the city police to assist it in the immersion exercise, resorted to lathi-charge along with the police. This despite the police commissioner, Meera Chadha-Borwankar’s instructions that the police mitra should not be armed with sticks.
Following the lathi-charge, members of the small mandals left the Ganpati idols on the road. The police then kept the idols at the City Post Office building on Laxmi Road.
The members of the small mandals alleged that the city police gave special treatment to the big mandals. “They are fearful of taking action against members of the bigger mandals,” alleged Ulhas Kulkarni, a member of Ganesh Seva Mandal.
The police said eight incidents of missing persons were reported to the control room. The police detained two women chain-snatchers from Latur. The police also nabbed two men and recovered seven stolen cellphones, including three BlackBerrys.
At Bapu ghat, the fire brigade personnel rescued a youth from drowning. He was drunk and was taken to Sassoon General Hospital for treatment. The police and members of different mandals acted promptly at the Alka Talkies Chowk at 4 pm to ensure safe passage for an ambulance ferrying a patient.
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