Hyderabad: Bada Ganesh immersed in record time amidst swarms of devotees

Hyderabad: The 63-foot tall Khairatabad Ganesh idol procession was completed in record time of six hours on Thursday. It was immersed amid ‘Jai Ganesha’ chants from the swelling crowd peacefully. Perhaps for the first time in recent years, the immersion was completed in a short time. The idol was immersed in the Hussainsagar lake by 1.30 pm, marking a change compared to last year, when it took place around 6.30 pm.

The jumbo eco-friendly Ganapathi idol started the grand procession (Shobha Yarta ) in the morning , with around one lakh devotees participating. The lane from Khairatabad to NTR Marg bore a festive mood. Devotees were seen dancing to tunes drums and chanting ‘Ganpati Bappa Morya, Agle Baras Tu Jaldi Aa.’ According to officials, the idol was immersed in Hussainagar. This is the first time that the idol was immersed in the early hours, as against evening hours or the next day every year.

As per schedule a special pooja for the Ganesh began at midnight. The loading of the idol began at around 2 am on a special trailer. By 4 am the welding works were completed . The grand procession from the pandal began at around 7 am and reached NTR Garden at 11 am. The final puja along with kalash puja performed before the immersion was little time consuming, as dismantling iron welding of the giant Ganesh took almost an hour. This year around 25 lakh devotees visited the pandal during the last ten days.

Following the early hours immersion, the city was free from tension of huge traffic jams that usually occur due to delayed immersions . Said Ramesh Rao, a businessman, who had come from Boduppal to be part of Shobha Yatra,“If we compare with previous years, this year within six hours the huge idol was immersed. Every year we used to get struck in traffic. Also the immersion used to happen the next day, due to which people used to face hardships. I had a tough time on many occasions. The immersion of Bada Ganesh will help other idols to be quickly moved to the lake on time.”

Shobha , an IT employee , said, “Bada Ganesh immersion early this year dishearten me, but later I realised that with this the city got a huge relief from massive traffic jams, sharing previous experiences“. Due to delay in Bada Ganesh immersion, immersions other idols used to be affected. Till the next day we used to face hardships, just to commute from Bible House to Telephone Bhavan we used to take almost one hour.”