Pune: The grand Ganesh Visarjan procession in Pune moved deeper into the city on Friday afternoon, with the Kasba Ganpati pathak reaching Alka Chowk around 2:40 pm on Anant Chaturdashi.
Kasba Ganpati, the first among Pune's revered Manache Paach, began its ceremonial procession around 9:30 am following the traditional puja at the Lokmanya Tilak statue in Mandai. The pathak's arrival at Alka Chowk came roughly five hours after the procession began.
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Alka Chowk is a key point in Pune's immersion procession, with the city's four major routes, Laxmi Road, Tilak Road, Kelkar Road and Kumthekar Road, converging in the area. More than 600 public Ganesh mandals are expected to participate in the major procession routes.
The Manache Paach are proceeding in their traditional order, with Kasba Ganpati followed by Tambdi Jogeshwari, Guruji Talim, Tulshibaug and Kesariwada. As the day progresses, more mandals are expected to enter the central city routes, increasing crowd and traffic pressure.
Police have made extensive arrangements for the immersion procession. Around 10,000 police personnel have been deployed, supported by more than 3,500 cameras for security and crowd monitoring. Police have also limited dhol-tasha performances at major chowks to 15 minutes per group to prevent prolonged stoppages.
Traffic restrictions remain in force across central Pune, with 17 major roads being closed in phases according to the movement of the procession. A 48-hour heavy vehicle restriction is also in place.
The immersion processions are expected to continue through the evening and into the night as thousands of devotees gather across the city to bid farewell to Ganpati Bappa.
