Overview
- Authorities are preparing for the final immersion on Friday, September 25 with huge deployments in key cities, including roughly 20,000–30,000 police in Hyderabad and more than 24,000–26,000 in Mumbai to manage crowds and traffic.
- Delhi has opened 81 artificial immersion ponds and 110 collection centres to discourage immersion in the Yamuna and other water bodies and to provide sites for idol disposal.
- Pune police and the municipal corporation have barred about 150 Ganesh mandals from four main immersion routes to shorten procession times and ease central-city congestion.
- Local officials across districts have installed cranes, lifeguards, rescue boats, trained divers, ambulances, sanitation crews and CCTV to lower idols safely, remove ritual waste and respond to emergencies.
- Tensions have surfaced where restrictions touch tradition: Tank Bund protesters in Hyderabad were detained for removing barricades, and courts’ earlier orders on idol size and PoP immersion are driving most civic plans and enforcement.