Pune, Sep 28 (UNI) The 10-day-long Ganeshotsav concluded on auspicious day of Anant Chaturdashi on Thursday with a huge crowd of devotees thronging streets of entire Maharashtra to bid farewell to
elephant-headed god "Ganpati Bappa".
In Mumbai, the immersion procession of famous Lalbaug Cha Raja started after the traditional Koli dance. The immersion procession will likely last for almost more than 20 hours.
As many as 19,000 police personnel have been deployed on Mumbai's streets for peaceful conduct of immersion procession.
The immersion procession, which is a glorious tradition of Pune, the cultural city of Maharashtra, started from the Lokmanya Tilak statue in Mandi area after performing 'aarti' today.
The Kasba Ganapati, which is one of five "honoured" mandals of Pune, is leading the procession. Deputy Chairperson of Maharashtra Legislative Council, Dr Neelam Gorhe, performed 'aarti' of Kasba Ganpati. Before that, she visited all the reverred Ganpati pandals in Pune city.
The procession of another famous Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati will commence at 1600 hours after aarti by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
The big attraction is a colourful rangoli drawn on the route of immersion in Pune city by the National Art Collection. The theme of this year's rangoli is on cyber crime.
Thousands of Ganesha devotees have come to witness the Visarjan procession at Mandai Chowk and Lakshmi Road.
During the Ganesh immersion procession, 17 roads in the city are closed for traffic from today till the end of the procession on Friday, police said.
A report from Kolhapur district of Maharashtra has stated that a scuffle broke out between the two groups following an heated argument over who will lead the Ganesh Visarjan procession on the main road in Kolhapur city.
There was a stone pelting incident, in which total three people, including two onlookers, were injured.
A report from Sangli district said that procession started this morning and was going on peacefully.
UNI SP SS