The procession carrying Hyderabad’s 69-foot Khairatabad Ganesh idol toward Hussainsagar lake was delayed on Friday morning, September 25, as large crowds gathered to watch the Ananta Chaturdasi immersion. A security official overseeing arrangements said welding work to secure the idol to its trailer was still under way and the schedule had slipped. Organisers had aimed to complete the immersion before noon.
The idol, built over several months and worshipped for ten days, was moved onto a trailer truck for the journey to the lake. A crane operator at the site said another crane would be used to carry out the immersion once it arrived.
Police created a passage through the busy residential and commercial areas of Khairatabad and Lakdikapul. Telangana police had been on security duty for the preceding ten days as devotees arrived from across the city to mark the culmination of Ganesh Chaturthi.
Traditional musicians played the devotional composition ‘Vaatapi Ganapati’ on shehnai and mridangam while workers prepared the trailer. Plastic confetti scattered along the route, and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation sanitation workers began cleaning the streets.