14 killed during Ganesh immersion in Maharashtra

Mumbai, Sep 16 (PTI) Fourteen people were killed duringGanesh immersion in Maharashtra, including eight from Nashikdistrict, police said. In Sinnar, Rameshwar Shirsat (21) and Sandeep Shirsat(25) drowned when they had gone to immerse the idols of LordGanesha. Nilesh Patil (25) too drowned during the immersion inWadiware, they said. Bhushan Kasabe drowned at Trimbakeshwar while SumitKantilal Pawar (14) and Sachin Devare (16) drowned in Malegaontehsil. Amol Patil and Roshan Salve too met a watery gravenear Pimplad and Bendkule-Mala respectively, police said. Three youths, who were part of a domestic idol immersion,drowned in Kad river at Jalalkheda in Nagpur district. Onecasualty each was also reported from Nanded, Sangli andParbhani districts, they said. On the last day of the Ganesh festival (AnantChaturdashi), 55,667 public idols and 10,80,499 householdsidols were immersed in Maharashtra. This includes 10,955 public and 56,250 household idolsin Mumbai, police said. Police and district administration had made specialarrangements for immersion, which began yesterday andwent on till this morning. Several police personnel and paramilitary forces weredeployed for the immersion proceedings in the state. Leavesof police were also cancelled in major cities. Meanwhile, immersion procession of Lord Ganesha idols inPune ended peacefully this afternoon as lakhs of devotees bidadieu to the elephant-headed deity. The immersion procession which started yesterday endednearly after 28 hours and thirty minutes. No untoward incidentwas reported in the city, a Pune police official said. Yesterday, the idols of five ‘manache’ (revered) Ganeshawere immersed while an idol of the popular ‘ShrimantDagadusheth Halwai Ganpati’ was immersed this morning. PTI DCVT SPK HVJ NRBIKA