All these Ganesh idols were immersed as per rituals in quarries located in different parts of the city, PCMC Additional Municipal Commissioner Santosh Patil said. (File)

Ganesh idol immersions in the city went off peacefully, sans the traditional colourful processions or the crowded farewells, on the last day of the festival on Tuesday.

Pune Police Commissioner K Venkatesham posted a message on Twitter, in which he thanked the residents of Pune and said everything was done with discipline and in a simple manner, keeping environmental concerns in mind.

Joint Commissioner of Police, Ravindra Shisave, said, “Pune police thanks all members and executive committees of Ganesh mandals for excellent cooperation and response to the code of conduct decided considering the Covid situation. Visarjan (immersion) was well coordinated either at homes or places of sthapana. We also thank Punekars for understanding the situation and respecting the new conditions in view of the Covid-19 situation, and celebrating the festival with the same fervour but in a new way…”.

As per a press release issued by Pune City Police, during the Ganesh festival from August 22 to September 1, three additional commissioners, 12 deputy commissioners, 17 assistant commissioners, 71 inspectors, 325 assistant inspectors, 3,759 constables, 197 home guards and one company of State Reserve Police Force was deployed on bandobast duty at different locations for maintaining law and order and preventing crowding.

A huge police force was deployed near the famous Dagadusheth Halwai Ganpati Temple, as well as the five manache Ganpatis in the city, on immersion day. All manache Ganpati Mandals immersed their Ganesh idols in artificial water tanks by 1.30 pm on Tuesday. Idols of Dagadusheth Halwai Ganpati, Shrimant Bhau Rangari Ganesh Mandal and Akhil Mandai Mandal were immersed without any processions before 7 pm.

Police forces were deployed at various water bodies like rivers and canals in the city to prevent crowding.

In the industrial city of Pimpri-Chinchwad, as many as 50,000 idols were ‘donated’.

The civic administration had set up pandals for collecting Ganesh idols from mandals and families, which had installed the idols. PCMC Additional Municipal Commissioner Santosh Patil said, “We have received a good response from Ganesh mandals and residents for idol donations. We have received nearly 50,000 Ganesh idols from local residents”.

All these Ganesh idols were immersed as per rituals in quarries located in different parts of the city, he said.

Patil said there were no loudspeakers, no dhol lezims and no noise. “A handful of people on their own carried the Ganesh idols and handed them over to our personnel after performing the aarti,” he said, adding that the process was peaceful across the city on Tuesday.

While some mandals and residents donated their Ganesh idols, some immersed the idols in artificial water tanks or in nearby ponds. Hrishikesh Marale, a local resident, said,”Every year, we used to take our Ganesh idol for immersion in the Pavana river. This year, however we immersed the idol in a tank on our terrace”.

Jumbo Hospital in Pimpri opens for patients

Meanwhile, the 816-bed jumbo hospital set up at Nehrunagar in Pimpri-Chinchwad started functioning from Tuesday. On the first day, 12 Covid-19 patients were admitted at the hospital. The total number of positive Covid-19 cases has reached 50,000 in Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Teenager drowns during visarjan at stone quarry

A teenager died after he allegedly drowned in the water at a stone quarry in Wagholi area during visarjan at around 1.30 pm on Tuesday. Police have identified the deceased as Krushna Maruti Lokare (18), a resident of Jadhav Vasti in Wagholi. Police said Lokare had gone to the quarry site with his family for idol immersion, but he drowned sudddenly. Police are investigating the incident further.

Krishna Prakash is new Pimpri-Chinchwad police chief

IPS officer Krishna Prakash is the new police commissioner of Pimpri-Chinchwad. The state Home department passed an order in this regard on Wednesday. He will be the third commissioner of Pimpri-Chinchwad police.

The Pimpri-Chinchwad police commissionerate was started on August 15, 2018. R K Padmanabhan, who retired last year, was the first chief of the police force.

An order regarding the transfer of outgoing Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissioner Sandeep Bishnoi has not been passed yet.