Hyderabad’s Ganesh immersion concluded peacefully after an estimated 30 lakh devotees visited the Khairatabad idol and 15 lakh visited the Balapur idol, Hyderabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar said on Saturday. The police operation involved 20,000 personnel from the Hyderabad Commissionerate and another 8,000 drawn from other districts and government wings.
The festival, which began on September 14, required extensive security, traffic and procession planning across the city. Sajjanar said arrangements were coordinated with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, HYDRAA, TGSPDCL and other departments to manage the movement of devotees and idols, including the centralised immersion operation at Hussainsagar.
The inclusion of Balapur within the Hyderabad Police Commissionerate helped officials begin the procession from the pandal earlier, according to the commissioner. The procession of the tallest Khairatabad Ganesh idol also began early, easing the task of managing the large crowds and the movement of vehicles carrying idols.
Security arrangements at the two major idol locations were supervised by senior police officers. Khairatabad Deputy Commissioner of Police K. Shilpavalli monitored arrangements at Khairatabad, while Shamshabad Deputy Commissioner of Police B. Rajesh oversaw the Balapur operation. Sajjanar said the police were able to provide uninterrupted darshan even as the daily turnout increased during the festival.
The commissioner said preparations had been under way for three months and described the immersion operation as a major challenge for the police department. The scale of the deployment reflected the need to coordinate crowd control, procession routes, public safety and traffic movement across several parts of Hyderabad.
Traffic restrictions were imposed around the Telangana Talli statue during the final phase of the immersion. A long queue of vehicles carrying Ganesh idols was reported from Abids towards Tank Bund and NTR Marg, drawing criticism from motorists. The restrictions were lifted in the afternoon after the immersion concluded.
Police officials later marked the peaceful completion of the operation with celebrations involving folk songs. Sajjanar joined police personnel during the celebrations, while Task Force personnel carried him on their shoulders. The commissioner thanked residents for cooperating with the police during the immersion, which was the final operational milestone reported for this year’s festival arrangements.
