In a heart-warming gesture, devotees during the Ganesha-idol immersion procession collectively made way for an ambulance on Lakshmi Road in Pune. In a video that surfaced on the official ANI Twitter account, devotees can be seen making way for the ambulance by sticking to both sides of the road and clearing space for it.

About 38000 idols immersed in Mumbai

On Thursday, the state of Maharashtra witnessed colourful celebrations as people all over the state bid adieu to the elephant god after several days of the Ganpati festival. Over 38000 Ganpati idols were immersed at 129 spots in Mumbai alone, marking an enthusiastic end to Anant Chaturdashi.

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The officials told PTI that immersions of several big idols, including the popular Lalbaugcha Raja idol that was immersed in the sea off Girgaum Chowpatty, continued into the wee hours of Friday morning.

Most of the immersions were held at Girgaum Chowpatty in south Mumbai, Shivaji Park in the central part of the city, Juhu on the western coast, and Aksa, Versova and Marve coasts in the northern part of the metropolis. Some people even took to other water-bodies and artificial ponds for the rituals.

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According to a statement issued by the BMC, 7,627 sarvajanik (public) Ganesha idols were immersed while the figure for small household idols stood at 30,403, taking the total number of immersions over the last 24 hours to over 38,000, by 9 AM on Friday.

Precautions for safety taken

Teams from the civic body's Disaster Management team, Fire Brigade, Police, and other agencies were part of the safety and security apparatus for the immersions, an official told PTI.

Chief Fire Officer P S Rahangdale said that the Fire Brigade had deployed over 300 lifeguards to ensure the immersions passed off without any untoward incident.

In neighbouring Thane, a total of 6.190 idols were immersed. According to figures released by the Thane Municipal Corporation, it included 5,574 public Ganpati idols and 482 community ones. 

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