MUMBAI: At least 19 persons died, 14 of them due to drowning, in different incidents that occurred during the immersion of Ganesh idols in parts of Maharashtra, police said on Saturday.
The 10-day Ganesh festival, which had started on August 31, ended on Friday.
In Wardha district three persons drowned at Sawangi, while another one drowned at Devli, an official said.
Two persons drowned in a pond in Yavatmal district when they went for immersion of idols, he said.
In Ahmednagar district, two persons died of drowning in separate incidents at Supa and Belvandi, he said, adding that two others died in Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra.
One each died in Pune's rural part, Dhule, Satara and Solapur city, he said.
Four persons died in a road accident at Sakkardara area of Nagpur city during Ganesh immersion, he said.
In Thane, a 55-year-old woman was killed and four others injured after a tree collapsed on a Ganesh pandal in Kolbad area amid rains.
The incident occurred on Friday night, a civic official said.
"A huge tree fell on the pandal while the aarti of the Lord Ganesh was going on as part of the immersion of the idol. The woman, Rajashri Walavalkar, was seriously injured in the mishap. All of them were rushed to a hospital, where she was declared brought dead," the official said.
Meanwhile, at least 11 persons, including a nine-year-old girl, were injured after suffering an electric shock at Panvel in Raigad district during a procession.
The incident took place on Friday evening at Wadghar Koliwada after a cable of an electric generator snapped, an official said.
"At least 11 persons who were part of the procession came into contact with the cable and sustained injuries. The injured include four children", he said.
While some of them were rushed to a private hospital, others were taken to a state-run hospital in Panvel, he said adding all are responding well to the treatment.
Some law and order related incidents were also reported in parts of the state during the immersion of idols.
A scuffle broke out between the supporters of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray at Tophkhana in Ahmednagar district, an official said.
In Jalgaon, a group of people hurled stones at the mayor's bungalow during the Ganesh immersion procession, he said, while minor incidents of scuffle between groups were reported in Pune city and rural part of the district as well as Chandrapur.
More than 38,000 idols of Lord Ganesh were immersed in various water bodies across Mumbai till Saturday morning following the conclusion of the 10-day festival a day ago, while immersion processions are still on at some places in the city, an official said.
The idols were immersed in the Arabian sea off Girgaon Chowpatty (beach) in south Mumbai, in artificial ponds and some other water bodies.
While Girgaon Chowpatty is one of the major spots for immersion of popular Ganesh idols like Lalbaugcha Raja, Ganesh Gully and others, idols are also immersed at other beaches across the city, including Shivaji Park, Bandra, Juhu and Malad.
The immersion processions had begun on Friday morning.
The 10-day festival was celebrated with special fervour and pomp this year as COVID-19-related restrictions had played spoilsport in 2020 and 2021.
As many as 38,214 Ganesh idols were immersed in the metropolis till 9 am on Saturday.
Of these, 31,259 were household idols, 6,647 'sarvajanik' (those installed in public pandals), while 308 idols were of Goddess Gauri, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said.
Of the total, 9,751 idols, including 796 'sarvajanik' ones, were immersed in artificial ponds, they said.
The idol of Lalbaugcha Raja Ganesh, one of the biggest draws of the festival in the city, was immersed around 9.15 am, nearly 22 hours after its procession had started on Friday.
Its procession reached the Girgaon Chowpatty early this morning.
A huge crowd gathered at the immersion point to bid adieu to Lalbaugcha Raja.
"No untoward incident reported during immersion processions," the BMC official said.
Another BMC official said that immersion at Girgaon Chowpatty got almost ended after the Lalbaugcha Raja, but the process is still in western suburbs and it may take a few more hours.
The civic body had arranged barges and motorboats at the beaches for the immersion of tall idols in the deep waters.
Several roads were closed for traffic to allow immersion processions.
More than 20,000 police personnel including 3,200 officers were on the streets of Mumbai to keep vigil.
Eight companies of the State Reserve Police Force, one company of Rapid Action Force and 750 home guards too had been deployed, officials said.
The BMC had provided immersion facilities at 73 natural and 162 artificial water bodies and about 10,000 civic personnel were on duty.
The civic body had set up 188 control rooms, as many first aid centres and kept 83 ambulances ready besides deploying 786 lifeguards at various immersion points.