With 52,525 immersions, fifth day of 'visarjan' goes smoothly

On the fifth day of immersion, devotees bid adieu to Ganesh idols across the city amid peace on Friday. The proceedings at Girgaum Chowpatty, where reports of fish bites had triggered panic, too went smoothly.

A total of 52,525 idols were immersed on Friday (until  9pm). Out of these, 47,735 were household idols, while 431 belonged to sarvajanik mandals. A total 5292 idols were immersed in artificial ponds.

“No untoward incident was reported even late into the night. At Girgaum too, the immersions were peaceful,” a senior civic official said.

Despite the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) warning against venturing into sea at Girgaum, devotees could still be seen entering water to immerse the idols of Lord Ganesh.

“The proceedings were peaceful, unlike during the immersion of the one-and-half-day idols on Tuesday,” said Naresh Dahibawkar, chief of the Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samnvay Samiti.

Vehicular movement was affected to some extent at immersion spots, especially at beaches. “But there was no major problem reported anywhere. We had already made the public aware of which routes would remain open and closed on immersion days. So, that has helped in reducing problems,” a traffic official said.

As parts of its plan for proper vehicular movement, the traffic wing had announced 50 roads (21 in island city, 20 in eastern suburbs and nine in western suburbs) would be closed, while 56 would be one-ways. Besides, parking has been banned on 94 roads.

On Tuesday, over 13,000 idols were immersed at city’s 72 immersions spots, including beaches and 27 artificial ponds.