Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said crowd and public safety took priority over reducing the duration of the Ganpati immersion procession, which concluded peacefully in the city on Saturday. He said speeding up the procession on the narrow immersion route could have increased the risk of crowd crushes and confusion.
The last participating mandal moved from Lokmanya Tilak Chowk at around 6.15 pm on Saturday, after which the security deployment was withdrawn. Speaking to reporters after the procession ended, Kumar said no untoward incident had been reported during the event.
The commissioner said police planning focused on managing the large crowds that gathered in central Pune to watch the procession, along with the safety of women, senior citizens, children and participating volunteers. Traffic management and the use of technology were also part of the arrangements, according to the police.
Kumar said attempts had been made in the past to reduce the time taken by the immersion procession. However, the route has crowds on both sides, a large number of participants and limited space. Under these conditions, he said, trying to move mandals faster or increase the pace of the procession could create a risk of crowd crushes and lead to disorder.
He said the time taken by the procession could not be treated as the primary consideration when millions of devotees were gathering along the central route. The management of the crowd and the safety of devotees and volunteers were more important, he said.
Senior officers present during the briefing included Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjay Darade, Additional Commissioners Manoj Patil, Rajesh Bansode and Tejaswi Satpute, along with Commissioner Kumar. The police deployment was formally withdrawn after the final mandal had passed and the procession had concluded.
