The public celebration of Ganesh festival at the Idgah Maidan adjacent to Kittur Chennamma Circle in Hubballi concluded on a colourful and peaceful note with a heavy posse of police personnel keeping vigil all along the procession route.
As the municipal corporation had permitted the celebration of Ganesh festival only for three days and also fixed the time for the immersion procession, the office-bearers of Rani Chennamma Maidan Gajanan Utsav Mahamandali made arrangements accordingly.
Along with mahamandali office-bearers led by its president Sanjeev Badaskar, members of various Hindutva outfits started assembling at the venue from early morning and they were joined by the former Union Minister and BJP leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, BJP MLAs Arvind Bellad, Mahesh Tenginakai, Amrut Desai and M.R. Patil and BJP MLC Pradeep Shettar along with other office-bearers of the party.
Flagging off the immersion procession after the rituals were completed, Mr. Yatnal announced that the public celebration of Ganesh festival will continue at the venue, which is now called Rani Chennamma Maidan, in the coming years without any compromise.
Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Mutalik announced that the celebrations will be held on a more grand scale in the coming years.
Grand procession
Unlike the installation procession, which did not see much participation, the immersion procession attracted more people, especially youths who came with big saffron flags containing portraits of Lord Hanuman, Basaveshwara and also flags with Sri Ram written on them.
Mr. Yatnal and other leaders led the procession in an open jeep for some time and after reaching the adjoining Kittur Chennamma Circle, they left the venue. The youths danced to the beats of the high decibel sound system mounted on tractors all along the route. At one point they were joined by some women and college students, mainly from the adjoining taluks.
Along with the DJ music, there were also troupes with traditional drums that brought vibrancy to the procession which moved at a slow pace. The procession which began at around 11.45 p.m. took almost five hours to reach the immersion pond adjoining Indira Glass House. Amid bursting of crackers and chanting of Ganapati Bappa Morya, the idol was finally immersed at the artificial pond at around 4.30 p.m.
As a precautionary measure, the police diverted traffic on alternative routes till 5 p.m. The Hubballi Dharwad Police Commissionerate deployed additional police force and the surroundings of the venue were guarded round the clock.
The procession ended peacefully. And, the police will continue to be busy with bandobast duty as the public celebration of Ganesh festival in the twin cities will conclude on September 28.
