Mumbai, Pune gear up for Ganpati Visarjan

As people gear up for Ganpati Visarjan, which marks the culmination of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, police in the state have put in place elaborate security measures, including crowd control.

Mumbai police and Pune police have made elaborate arrangements for Ganpati Visarjan scheduled for September 12.

"Over 40,000 security forces will be deployed which include special forces and reserved forces of Mumbai police. Civil defence and home guards will also be deployed," Pranay Ashok, Mumbai Police PRO informed a press gathering.

Reportedly, there are 5630 Sarvajanik Ganpati all over Mumbai and more than 32,000 household Ganpati idols. There are 129 places earmarked in Mumbai for immersion of the idols.

"56 roads have been declared as one way. To monitor the crowd more than 5000 cameras all over the city are placed. In three points we are using drones to regulate and monitor the situation; the points are - Juhu Chowpatty, Girgaum Chowpatty and Powai lake," Ashok said.

In Pune also, more than 7000 police personnel will be deployed for overseeing Ganesh Visarjan.

"Two teams of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) will also be deployed. Pune police will use five spotter kits to keep surveillance. Spotter Kit is the new technology which will help police with facial recognition as well as identification of suspicious elements using HD CCTV cameras and it will work on a real-time basis," said Pune Police.