Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudhchya Varshi Lavkar Ya: Devotees bid Lord Ganesh farewell with heavy hearts

Advertisement


Nagpur: High-pitched chants of “Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudhchya Varshi Lavkar Ya” reverberating across the city marked conclusion of 12-day Ganesh festival. Thousands of devotees took out idols of their beloved elephant-headed deity from their homes and marched towards various water bodies amidst beats of dhols, drums and chants of ‘Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudhchya Varshi Lavkar Ya.” Dancing and sprinkling gulal, devotees took the idols of vibrant colours installed in homes and pandals for immersion, albeit, with heavy hearts.

Even though heavy rains lashed the city on Tuesday afternoon, it did not deter the enthusiasm of devotees. After a brief spell, skies turned blue doubling the joys of devotees. It was a mixed emotion for devotees who even though were singing and dancing had tears in their eyes while bidding the Lord farewell and requesting Him to come early next year. Kids, youngsters, boys and girls, women, aged thronged the visarjan places mainly at Futala, Ambazari, Gandhisagar and other lakes. No devotee was allowed to immerse idols directly in the lake waters for preventing pollution. On the other hand, Nagpur Municipal Corporation, with help of a number of voluntary organisations, has made arrangements of artificial ponds across the city to facilitate Ganesh Visarjan. Teams of voluntary organisations such as Green Vigil Foundation, Green Earth Organisation, Rotary Clubs, and others requested devotees to immerse idols of Lord Ganesh in the artificial ponds. The NGOs also collected Nirmalya (puja material) from devotees in order to keep lakes and surrounding area clean.

At Visarjan places, devotees performed aarti of Lord, distributed Prasad mainly consisting of Modaks, coconut, pedhas etc before bidding adieu to their beloved God.

City cops have made elaborate arrangements to ensure the Ganesh Visarjan passes off peacefully. Traffic police were seen monitoring and regulating movement of vehicles carrying idols of Lord. Top bosses and personnel number over 4000 dotted the streets and kept a close watch on processions. No untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the city, according to preliminary reports.