Pune is ready to bid adieu to its revered deity Ganpati on Anant Chaturdashi on Friday, with lakhs of devotees saying Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudhchya Varshi Laukar Ya, urging Lord Ganesh to come back soon next year.
Police have geared up for Visarjan Miravnuk or immersion processions of Ganesh idols, which mark the end of the festival. Deployment of 6000-strong police force has been planned from Friday morning which will ensure smooth conduct of the processions with the help of a widespread CCTV camera network, special squads and traffic restrictions at various places in the city. Traditionally, immersion processions in the past have taken around 24 hours to get over.
Pune police have said that in addition to over 1,200 closed-circuit TV cameras installed for surveillance in the city, several additional cameras have been installed on important procession routes for Ganesh visarjan.
The idol immersion is conducted mainly in the artificial tanks constructed by civic bodies along the riverbanks or in the flowing river water of Mula-Mutha or other water bodies. As per tradition, a large number of Ganesh Mandals and many more individual households immerse their idols on the second, third, fifth, and seventh day of the festival. Till now, idols from 333 mandals have already been immersed.
Safety measures have been put in place at all visarjan ghats in city, including Panchaleshwer ghat in Deccan.
On the day of Anant Chaturdashi, idols from 2,969 mandals and 2.22 lakh households are expected to be immersed. Those from mandals include the idols from the five Manache Ganpati — the five Ganesh mandals which traditionally lead the immersion processions in Pune. These include Kasba Ganpati Mandal, Tambdi Jogeshwari Mandal, Guruji Talim Mandal, Tulshibaug Mandal and Kesri Wada Mandal. Other than the five Manache Ganpatis, prominent mandals such as Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganesh Mandal, Bhau Rangari Ganesh Mandal and Akhil Mandai Ganesh Mandal will also immerse their idols.
Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta said, “Police officers and personnel have been specifically directed to ensure safety and security of children, women and elderly during the procession. At many places, the construction work on Pune Metro is currently underway. Directives have been issued for the height of the decorative structures that accompany the procession. The noise pollution levels will also be closely monitored and those found violating it will face action.”
The deployment of over 6,000 police personnel includes personnel from Pune police force, some additional strength of officers and personnel brought in from other jurisdictions along with companies of State Reserve Police Force, state Home Guard personnel and a number of citizen volunteers.
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The deployment will be headed by Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta and Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Karnik. It will be coordinated by four additional commissioners, 10 deputy commissioners, over 23 assistant commissioners and 55 police inspectors. It will comprise around 379 assistant inspectors and sub- inspectors and 4,600 personnel from Pune City Police. Multiple quick response teams, riot control vehicles, bomb detection and disposal squad teams, dog squads, and anti-chain snatching teams will be deployed.
The entire staff of the traffic control branch will be on the roads to man traffic and processions. Various roads in the central part of Pune will either remain closed for traffic or will see traffic diversions, officials said. Ambulances and fire tenders will be kept on stand-by at various locations in the city. Officials said watch towers have been set up at various places in the city. Similar measures have been put in place in the neighbouring jurisdictions Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune Rural. Deployment of close to 2,000 personnel has been planned for the smooth conduct of immersion processions in these police jurisdictions, officials said.
