Iconic Lalbaugcha Raja idol immersed after rare delay at Girgaon Chowpatty

The immersion of Mumbai’s most iconic Ganesh idol, Lalbaugcha Raja, was delayed for several hours on Sunday, 7 September, after high tide and technical challenges disrupted the ritual at Girgaon Chowpatty.

Traditionally immersed before 9 am on Anant Chaturdashi, the 18-foot idol could not be transferred onto the immersion raft until 4:45 pm, more than eight hours after arriving at the site and over 32 hours since its grand procession began from Lalbaug on Saturday afternoon.

Officials said repeated attempts in the morning were abandoned after the 4.42-metre tide destabilised the raft. “We halted the process to prevent any mishap. Local fishermen advised us to wait for the evening tide to ensure safe immersion,” explained Sudhir Salavi, honorary secretary of the Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal.

Hundreds of volunteers and fishermen eventually succeeded in moving the idol onto a specially constructed raft, cheered on by thousands of devotees chanting “Ganpati Bappa Morya” and “Lalbaugcha Rajacha Vijay Aso.” The idol was finally immersed in the Arabian Sea at 9:15 pm, escorted into deeper waters by fishermen’s boats under police supervision.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) reported that a total of 1,97,114 idols were immersed across the city during the 11-day festival, including over 1.8 lakh household idols, 10,148 public mandal idols, and 5,591 idols of Gauri and Hartalika.

The civic body also collected more than 500 tonnes of floral offerings and launched large-scale clean-up operations at natural water bodies and artificial ponds.

Elsewhere in Maharashtra, the festivities were overshadowed by a series of tragic incidents. At least nine people drowned and 12 were reported missing in separate mishaps during idol immersions across Thane, Pune, Nanded, Nashik, Jalgaon, Washim, Palghar, and Amravati districts.

In Pune, five people were swept away in rivers and wells during immersion rituals, while in Nashik, five more were carried off by strong currents, with only two bodies recovered by Sunday evening.

Three men in Thane’s Shahapur taluka drowned near a dam, and Jalgaon too reported multiple fatalities. In Palghar, three devotees were rescued after being swept away in a creek, while two men drowned in Washim and one in Amravati.

Mumbai also witnessed an electrocution incident in Sakinaka, where one man died and five others were injured after a Ganesh idol came into contact with an overhead electric wire during the procession.

Processions stretched beyond 24 hours in Mumbai and Pune despite extensive arrangements by the police and civic authorities. In Pune, the immersions concluded after more than 32 hours on Sunday evening, with officials confirming over 7.45 lakh household idols and nearly 4,000 mandal idols had been immersed.

Despite heavy rains and prolonged processions, the festival concluded with lakhs of devotees bidding farewell to Lord Ganesh. For Mumbai, Lalbaugcha Raja’s visarjan once again remained the city’s most watched and emotionally charged spectacle, even if this year it was marked by one of the most delayed immersions in recent memory.

With PTI Inputs