Immersion of Lord Ganesha idols beings in Hyd & in districts

: The immersion of Lord Ganesha idols in Hussain Sagar lake, at other places in the city and in different districts began Sunday amid tight security.

Thousands of devotees marched towards the Tank Bund here following the Ganesha idols on decorated vehicles for the final procession, which marks the conclusion of the 11-day long festival.

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu also participated in the immersion event at Tank Bund here, offered prayers and performed 'aarati'.

The immersion of the famous 57 foot Khairatabad Ganesh idol, the tallest in the city, was done in Hussain Sagar lake at around 1 PM.

Over 12,000 idols were immersed in Hussain Sagar by afternoon and thousands in other areas, officials of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) said.

The civic body has also built artificial ponds near major lakes and tanks.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the peaceful conduct of Ganesh immersion processions here and across the state, Director General of Police M Mahendar Reddy said adding "we are alert".

The state Command Control at the police headquarters here has been connected with major towns CCTVs of procession routes to enable monitoring on a real-time basis.

Besides this, the idols have been geo tagged.

The DGP asked people not to believe in social media rumours or spread false news and requested them to cooperate with the police.

"Immersion of Ganesha idols is going on peacefully. Devotees are coming in large numbers. Police, GHMC and officials from other departments have made arrangements for smooth conduct of the event," GHMC Commissioner Dana Kishore said.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said over 17,000 police personnel have been deployed in the city for the final procession Sunday and it was being monitored through 2.5 lakh surveillance cameras.

The police commissioner said the procession was likely to culminte by late Sunday or early Monday.

Police have identified 310 hyper-sensitive and 605 sensitive places in the city.

Hyderabad Police has already put in force traffic restrictions on the main procession route.

Bhagawanta Rao, a senior representative of Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samiti, the body overseeing Ganpati celebrations here, said lakhs of devotees are participating in the final procession.

The famous Balapur laddu was auctioned for Rs 16.60 lakh fetching Rs one lakh more than last year.