Giragum Chowpatty witnesses Ganesha immersion amidst confusion, mishaps

Lakhs of people thronged to Giragum Chowpatty on the immersion day of Ganesha idols on Sunday. From children to senior citizens, all came in large numbers. However, the celebrations this year witnessed few unfortunate instances.

Strictest of the measures were taken by the police and civic officials to ensure nothing untoward incident takes place at the spot. Vehicles that didn't have Ganesha idols were not allowed to enter Chowpatty. Citizens were prohibited to use firecrackers at the beach. No vehicle with windows up was allowed at the beach. Continuous aerial surveillance were done by the helicopters till the sun set.

Make-shift control rooms of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Mumbai Police at Girgaum Chowpatty were busy all day making announcement about those who had gone missing. 'While in some cases the missing person had come to the control room and requested to make an announcement for his relatives, in some cases, the relatives requested for announcement. Almost all of them have been reunited. In large number of crowd, it is expected that people get sway away from their relatives," said an officer from the makeshift police control room.

"We are very excited and this is the fourth year of our Ganesha visarjan. May Lord Ganesha fulfill dream of everyone and protect us from the evil. Volunteers here have done a great job and till 4pm, the beach is not found to be in a messy state," said 36-year old housewife from VP Road area, Suchitra Desai. Like Desai, there were several families whom had come for the immersion of their household idols at the beach.

This year some unfortunate incidents were reported during the procession of Ganesha idols. One person died while five others, including a girl were left injured after a gallery collapsed, while they were witnessing procession of Lalbaugcha Raja. According to the police, the incident occurred at around 1.45pm, when Lalbaugcha Raja procession reached near Bharatmata Junction.

"The injured persons were rushed to KEM Hospital, where doctors declared one of them, a 50-year old Hindurao Jadhav as dead. The others identified as Pradeep Sonawane, 28, Sayali More, 13, Asmita Subhash, 15, Rajesh Waigude, 27, and Minal Charan, 22, sustained minor injuries," said an officer from Kalachowkie police station. There were also unconfirmed reports that two persons sustained injuries at Chinchpokli after a Ganesha idol of a public mandal tilted.

Maharashtra Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan visited Girgaum Chowpatty at around 7.30pm. Senior civic officials, including BMC chief Subodh Kumar were present at chowpatty, along with senior political figures like Maharashtra home minister RR Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal from Nationalist Congress Party, Narendra Verma, Jayant Patil and Manohar Joshi. The politicians stayed away from making any comment, and only said that it's an auspicious occasion and they've come seek blessings of Lord Ganesha.