Pune: Police Commissioner Dr K Venkatesham ‘Thanks’ Punekars for a disciplined and eco-friendly Ganesh immersion

Mrunal Jadhav

Pune, September 2, 2020: After a rather ‘quiet’ immersion ceremony in Pune this year amidst the prevailing Coronavirus situation, Pune Police Commissioner Dr Venkatesham tweeted and thanked the people of Pune. “No pomp, No big idols, No procession, How simple, disciplined and environment friendly. Let the Ganesh Utsav be celebrated next year with great enthusiasm, but with the same discipline, in an eco-friendly manner,” he said in his tweet.

Every year, the immersion procession in Pune bustles with the traditional dhol-tasha troupes to modern DJs in the processions. To experience this event, people from all over the country come to Pune. The procession route in the centre of the city is crowded, therefore, high security of Pune police is imposed. This time the case was different and the police force had relief due to this. This is the reason the Police Commissioner expressed his feelings on behalf of Pune Police.

As processions were banned this year due to Coronavirus, Ganesh idol immersion was done in the artificial tank within the Mandal premises. Accordingly, the first revered Ganpati of Pune, Kasba Ganpati was immersed at 11:44 am on Tuesday. After that, the second Tambadi Jogeshwari Mandal was immersed at 12.40 pm, the third revered Ganesha Guruji Talim Mandal 12.55 pm, the fourth Tulshibaug Ganesh 1.05 pm and the fifth Ganpati Kesariwada Ganpati was immersed at 1:35 pm. After that, the rest of the Ganesh mandals like Shrimant Bhausaheb Rangari Mandal Ganpati was immersed at 2:41 pm, Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati at 7 am and Akhil Mandai Ganpati at 7:10 am. Therefore, the immersion ceremony started at 11.44 am and ended at 7.10 pm, lasting for seven hours and 34 minutes only. It usually lasts for about 28 hours every year.

Ganesh Utsav is the most awaited festival every year and is celebrated with great pomp in Maharashtra, especially in Pune. This year the festival was celebrated under several restrictions due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Due to the ban on immersion processions, this year’s Ganesh Utsav was celebrated in a disciplined and environment-friendly manner. Therefore, there was no added pressure on the police to plan a high-security bandobast for the immersion ceremony.