Mumbai As the state bid a tearful goodbye to Ganpati on Friday, at least 20 people died across Maharashtra due to immersions or immersion-related activities. Of them, at least 14 died due to drowning. The additional director general of police, (Law and Order), Kulwant Kumar Sarangal, said, “As many as 14 people have died due to drowning during Ganesha idol immersions. One woman died when a tree fell on her during Aarti at the time of immersion in Thane and 11 people were injured due to electrocution during the immersion procession.”In Vardha district, four people died due to drowning in Sawangi and Devli regions of the district. In Yavatmal district’s Arni region, two died due to drowning during immersion. Apart from this, deaths due to drowning were also reported from Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, Pune rural, Thane, Yavatmal, Solapur, Satara and Dhule districts.Senior police officials said that various incidents of clashes between two Ganeshotsav Mandals, political parties and members of the public were reported in various parts of the state. In Ahmednagar’s Topkhana area, a major clash was reported between supporters of chief minister Eknath Shinde and former CM Uddhav Thackeray during immersion processions. Similar clashes were reported in Mundhawa area in Pune and Shikrapur region in rural parts of the district.In Jalgaon MIDC area, stones were pelted on mayor Jayshree Mahajan’s bungalow by some unidentified people. Jalgaon city police have registered a case against the unidentified accused and are trying to identify them.Meanwhile, 12 members of a family were electrocuted at Wadghar creek in Panvel when a live wire of the generator fell over their handcart on the way to immersion. All the injured were rushed to the civic hospital in Panvel and are said to be stable. Meanwhile, Thane city recorded three deaths in the last two days. Two cases of drowning were reported in which a four-year-old was swept away in a drain amid heavy downpour on Thursday evening. Another unknown body of a 35-year-old man was found in a nullah.On Friday, a 55-year-old woman died and four others were injured after a tree fell over a Ganpati pandal in Kolbad area in Thane city.In Chandrapur city, clashes were seen between policemen and members of Ganpati mandal.“Around 18 FIRs have been registered across the state in connection with various offences reported during the immersion processions,” ADG Sarangal said.“We had deployed strong security bandobast across the state and effective preventive measures were also taken to prevent any major untoward incident. Apart from small incidents, no major incident occurred and the 10-day long Ganeshotsav festival went peacefully,” the senior IPS officer added. Ganesh festivities get noisier Noise levels in the city on the day of Anant Chaturdashi, the tenth and final day of Ganeshotsav, were at their highest in three years, according to data shared by city-based Awaaz Foundation, which has been campaigning to reduce noise pollution for the past two decades. The highest noise level was recorded well past Friday midnight in the Opera House locality, at 120.2 decibels (dB), as against 93.1dB in 2021 and 100.7dB in 2020. In 2019, before celebrations had to be subdued owing to Covid-19, the noise levels on Anant Chaturdashi had touched 121.3dB. Hindustan Times had recently reported how, after a lockdown-driven lull during festive seasons over the last couple of years, sound levels breached established norms at many prominent places just five days into the festivities. On September 4, the highest dB-level recorded touched 115.6dB, as opposed to 93.1 dB in 2021 and 100.7dB in 2020. “At Girgaon Chowpatty, along the immersion route, loudspeakers from political pandals continued beyond the period. There were egregious violations of noise limits as late as 1:25am, despite a personal visit to the Police Control Room at Girgaon, and a Twitter complaint to the Mumbai police at 1.06 am,” said Sumaira Abdulali, convener, Awaaz Foundation. 105 mobile phones stolen Around 105 devotees lost their mobile phones during the immersion procession of Lalbaugcha Raja on Friday, said the police. The police said that around 63 devotees lost their mobile handsets at the famous pandal during the ten-day long festival – from August 31 to September 9. Besides, 160 devotees lost their wallets during the ten days. As the crowds thronged the streets for darshan of their beloved Lalbaugcha Raja on Friday, several thieves took advantage of the opportunity to steal wallets and gold chains.
