Curtain came down on the grand public celebrations of Ganesh festival in Hubballi late on Friday night with Ganesh Mandals taking out grand and colourful immersion processions in which people of all age groups participated.
Compared to the earlier years, the immersion processions began comparatively much early this year, with some of the huge Ganesh idols being taken out in colourful processions by Friday afternoon itself.
The speed at which the processions moved was also comparatively fast this time, thanks to the series of meetings held by the Police Commissioner and his team with the representatives of the Ganesh Mandals.
Despite the restrictions on the use of high decibel sound systems, some of the Ganesh Mandals continued to make use of them, with revellers dancing to the beats of hit filmy numbers. In fact, in some processions, girls and young women danced to the beats of hit numbers.
As a precautionary measure, the police made elaborate bandobast especially around the Idgah Maidan next to the landmark Kittur Chennamma Circle in the heart of the city. The Idgah Maidan has been made a no man’s land after the three-day festivities on the grounds permitted by the municipal corporation.
Actually, the festivities were to end on the 11th day but it concluded on the 10th day (Friday) itself as Saturday is a Full Moon Day. On Thursday night too, many immersion processions were taken out in the city. And, as it has been a practice, the Mangalwarpet Ganesh procession was welcomed by members of the Muslim community. Also, they too took part in the celebrations as usual.
After taking out immersion processions, the members of Ganesh Mandals immersed the idols of different sizes and myriad colours in the designated ponds amid chanting of Ganapati Bappa Morya. The police ensured that the processions were held one after the other and festivities concluded peacefully.
