Unprecedented security blanket for Ganesh immersion

Mumbai, Sep 6 (UNI) Lakhs of devotees joined the final journey to immerse idols of Lord Ganesha, bringing the 10-day festivity to a peaceful end, amid unprecendented security blanket.

Coast Guard choppers were pressed into service for emergency relief and rescue missions from Virar in north to Girgaum Chowpathy in south, A Rajashekar, Inspector General, Coast Guard said.

Mr Rajashekar said Coast Guard ships have also been positioned to augment rescue operations in the event of any major eventuality, due to the influx of large number of people on the shores and seas to immerse idols.

Meanwhile, the city police also maintained a close vigil on the movements of devotees and traffic around Dadar, Girgaum and Lalbuagh areas of the city, through hundred Close Circuit Cameras that had been installed.

In addition, 150 roads were declared uni-directional to facilitate easy movement of devotees proceeding for immersion and guidelines have been issued to Ganpati mandals for faster immersion of idol's to augment normal traffic flow, raffic Police sources said.

Several wider roads in the city and the suburbs were divided for faster movement to avoid major traffic blocks, the sources added.

The largest turnout of devotees was to have a gilmpse of ''Lalbaug cha Raja'' who was on his way to Girgaum for immersion.

About one lakh devotees were present when the idol's procession began at 1000 hrs this morning.

Police and paramilitary forces maintained a tight vigil at all strategic locations and crowded streets.

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