Amid beefed-up security, public celebrations of Ganesh festival at the Idgah Maidan in the heart of Hubballi city began on Tuesday with scores of members of the BJP and Hindutva outfits taking out a procession and installing the idol of Lord Ganesh amid much fanfare.
The Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC), which had allowed the installation of the Ganesh idol at the Idgah Maidan by imposing 18 conditions, subsequently relaxed a few of them on the insistence of the Rani Chennamma Maidan Gajanan Utsav Mahamandali.
Although the municipal corporation had permitted the celebrations to be held between September 19 and 21, it allowed the mahamandali to conduct a few rituals on Monday, before the mahamandali erected the Ganesh pandal.
