Ganpati idol immersions in Mumbai beset by mandals’ poor management and delay

Mumbai: Ganpati visarjan, which was scheduled to be completed on Anant Chaturdashi Saturday, was beset by poor management on part of large mandals this year.The Lalbaugcha Raja idol was stranded along Girgaum Chowpatty beachfront since 8am Sunday. Its 24-hour long procession reached the seashore late and encountered high tide at 11.40am. Moreover, the mandal had manufactured a new visarjan float which gave teething troubles. The immersion was finally performed at 9.10pm.Koli fishermen had reportedly alerted the mandal about high tide timings.Sudhir Salvi, secretary of Lalbaugcha Raja said, "High tide arrived early, plus it had been raining for the past two days. We were caught between the tides. We normally load the idol in a boat during low tide and set it at sea during high tide. I express regret for the delay. Our planning has never failed before."So far, Koli fishermen of Badhwar Park in Colaba had been conducting the Raja's error free immersion since 24 years. After Sunday's fiasco, the mandal recalled the Kolis who suggested a window of 10.30-11pm to retry.Lalbaug had also procured a new float with sprinklers and lights for visarjan this year. But the vessel bobbed about in an unstable manner, with volunteers unable to load the heavy idol upon it. Also the Parelcha Maharaja, the "flying" idol which was the highlight of this season's Ganeshotsav, was abandoned on the Chowpatty seafront by mandal members. Ashwin Gangan of Parelcha Maharaja told TOI, "Because of high tide, we had to leave our moorti on the beach." Mandals are accustomed to leaving large idols on the beach, leaving BMC to immerse them.Meanwhile the ‘sutak' for the Sept 7-8 total lunar eclipse started at 12.57pm, and Shraadh Pitru Paksha was to begin in a few hours, distressing astrologers and pandits who said Ganpati immersions should have been completed before noon.Joint commissioner of police (law & order) Satyanarayan Choudhary said, "Immersion was performed at 300 venues. Around 6,000 community idols and thousands of household idols were immersed without any untoward incident."Over in Kalyan-Dombivli, Ganpati visarjan was marred by the poor condition of roads. Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation city engineer Anita Pardeshi had repeatedly assured that major potholes would be filled before immersion, but this did not materialise.