Overview
- Immersions surged on Friday as devotees carried household and public Ganesh idols to designated ponds, lakes and artificial tanks in Telangana, Mumbai, Pune and other cities for Anant Chaturdashi, the final day of the 12-day festival.
- Telangana and city police deployed large forces and technology for crowd control, with roughly 25,000–30,000 personnel reported in Hyderabad, more than 24,000 police in Mumbai, over 10,000 CCTV cameras across Hyderabad and dozens of drones and high‑rise cameras linked to command centres.
- Authorities confirmed multiple deaths linked to the festival period, including Sub‑Inspector K. Venkanna who was killed in a hit‑and‑run in Hyderabad, a tally of 13 deaths and 26 injuries in Telangana over the 10‑day period, and separate drowning incidents in Madhya Pradesh that left at least four dead with several others missing.
- Civic agencies activated cranes, lifeguards, ambulances, temporary toilets and hundreds of artificial immersion points to manage logistics and reduce environmental harm, while some cities ran clay‑reuse programmes and ordered large idols to artificial lakes per court directions.
- Investigations into the Hyderabad hit‑and‑run and the Madhya Pradesh drownings are ongoing, officials said they expect remaining immersions to be completed by Saturday morning, and they urged organisers and devotees to follow safety instructions to prevent further casualties.