As the 10-day Ganesh Utsav festival is ending today, the Mumbai Police has prepped up to manage Anant Chaturdashi celebrations in city and to ensure all COVID-19 protocols are being followed across the city.
The city police in its order issued before the commencement of the festival had said that processions to immerse Ganesh idols, which usually attract large crowds, would not be allowed and mandals should take all safety precautions allowing not more than 10 people for immersion. The number is restricted to five for household idols.
Fixed points and patrolling has been deployed at all sensitive spots and areas. Besides, heavy bandobast is being deployed at all immersion points in the city.
The city cops also informed that arrangements such as lighting, cranes, swimmers, ambulance, fire service and all other safety measures have been done in coordination with the departments concerned. "Anti-sabotage measures, Night Patrolling and Good Morning Squad operations will also be undertaken during the day, it said.
Further, the police force said, extra Manpower has been deployed in the form of - 100 officers and 1500 men from Local Arms and various branches, 3 Company of SRPF, 1 Company of CRPF, 500 Home Guards, 275 Constables from outside units.
Apart form this, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) claims to have deployed more than 25,000 workers at city beaches to avoid any untoward incident.
The BMC on Friday said 338 Nirmalya Kalash have been set up at city beaches and 182 vans from the solid waste management department will be deployed for picking up the flowers.
As a precautionary measure, the civic body has set up 3,707 flood lights, 116 search lights, 48 observation towers, 36 motor boats and 30 rafts at the natural immersion sites. The BMC said a total of 715 lifeguards will be kept on standby on Sunday.
In several BMC wards like D-Ward (Girgaon, Malabar Hill), K-West (Juhu) and T-Ward (Mulund), the BMC officials have introduced an online link for devotees to book their preferred time slots for immersion. Senior officials said for residents of these wards, online booking would be mandatory.
Click here for the full list of natural and artificial ponds for immersion:
