MUMBAI: The 12-day festival of Ganeshotsav culminated with touching farewells at Anant Chaturdashi visarjan on Friday. The Lalbaugcha Raja was the last to be immersed at Girgaum Chowpatty Saturday morning. Its procession made a brief halt outside the Hindustan Masjid in Byculla in a sign of mutual respect.Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CM Eknath Shinde attended visarjan at Girgaum Chowpatty Friday. Fortified civic and traffic arrangements ensured smooth passage.A total of 199,325 idols were immersed at the end of the festival, said BMC. As many as 10,536 were sarvajanik idols, 182,048 household, while 6,741 were Gauri/Hartalika idols. The solid waste management dept collected 934.26 metric tonnes of floral waste by Saturday.Joint commissioner, traffic, Satya Narayan Chowdhary said, “This year is the first time traffic, including pedestrians and vehicles in Lalbaug area, has been managed in the absence of historic Elphinstone and Sion bridges. Twelve days of darshan and visarjan concluded smoothly without any traffic problem. In an innovative move, we also created parking place for Lalbaug-Parel area on BPT land.”In perhaps a first for the city, the Ganesh Gully mandal, Lalbaug, used a barge instead of a raft. Its 99-year-old Mumbaicha Raja was led into deep waters and lifted by a crane before gently being lowered into the sea. Cranes are commonly used, the barge was a novelty.A variety of chawls made their mark this Ganeshotsav. A stone’s throw from Lalbaugcha Raja, the Pangeri Chawl mandal of ‘Rani Baug Cha Raja’s took up the recent student suicides and unrest. On Saturday it won first prize for its moving tableau depicting ‘Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktaye’ theme. Creator Santosh Parab said, “We prepared live models that rose from beneath the stage, including Sant Dnyaneshwar and Savitribai Phule, to show the importance of holistic education beyond competitive marks and exam success.“At the other extreme of the tall giants, a two-inch Krishna avatar Ganesh of Sakinabai Chawl, Dharavi, was shown protecting Draupadi’s honour during the ‘cheerharan’ episode. President Selvan Nadar said, “Our Siddhivinayak mandal is known for addressing social issues. This year, we depicted women’s safety and the need for collective support during crises. Our two-inch idol crafted by Puvanesh is depicted in the exact posture that Krishna assumed to protect Draupadi during vastraharan. This miniature masterpiece symbolizes atrocities by modern-day Duryodhans and Duhshasans, raising a voice for women’s safety and offering social support.” The mandal’s Vikasrahul made a short film showing a harassed college girl being turned away by various authorities.Both Rani Baug and Dharavi mandals employed their own karyakartas for the task. They did not hire outside workers or agencies.Outside Mumbai, the Navi Mumbaicha Raja received a peaceful, disciplined visarjan devoid of DJ music, gulal or fireworks. Mandal president Ankush Vaiti said, “We illuminated our flower-bedecked chariot, used traditional musical instruments and showered flowers. The idol was immersed with a crane.” Senior police inspector Abasaheb Patil of APMC police station reportedly praised the orderly procession of the parent Shivchhaya Mitra Mandal.Madhusudan Sadadekar, who heads the city newspaper vendors’ association, praised two mandals. The first depicted Ganpati reading a newspaper — the mandal urged Mumbaikars to imagine a world without print news merely relying on fake social media. The other was the Andhericha Samrat which won a prize for its theme on the current state of Hindu temples.
