Peaceful Ganesh immersion processions in AP

With the slogan of 'Ganapati Bappa Moraya', the Ganesh idol processions wound their way to the immersions sites at the end of eleven days of Vinakaya festival in Andhra Pradesh today.

The unprecedented police security ensured that there was no untoward incident anywhere. In the state capital, thousands of devotees gathered on the centralised immersion procession route to bid adieu to the elephant-headed god.
 Security personnel kept a tight vigil at sensitive points along the procession route in the old city as hundreds of trucks carrying idols trundled towards Hussain Sagar lake.
 The main procession started at Balapur, about 25 km from Hussain Sagar, after traditional auction of 'Laddu'. A devotee bought the Laddu for Rs 7.5 lakh as thousands watched the open auction.
 The tallest idol in the city this year was 56 ft 'Khairtabad Ganesh'.
 The security was very heavy, in view of tomorrow's Telangana March, and the International Conference of Parties (CoP-11) on Biological Diversity which starts a day later.
 City police commissioner Anurag Sharma said over 15,000 policemen were deployed along the procession routes, besides a vigil through the CCTV cameras.
 Around 1,300 idols were immersed in Hussain Sagar lake by the evening, and the immersions would continue till tomorrow morning, police said. Over 12,000 idols would be immersed around the city, it is expected.
 It is the 33rd year of the centralised immersion procession, organised by Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi.

- Sakshipost