The third day of the Vinayaka Chaturthi had ended with a jubilant ceremony of Ganapati idol immersion due to the rare and much needed display of harmony by the leaders of all religions in Trichy, a scene that had never happened in Trichy before. The immersions on Friday were attended by several thousands of devotees as the water from Mettur dam reached Cauvery on Thursday itself.
The step was taken by the city police headed by the commissioner Shailesh Kumar Yadav, who had organized a reception to all the idols in the procession at Gandhi Market on Friday evening. Regardless of the religion different communities, including Muslims, Christians and Hindus had worked together enthusiastically and distributed sweets to everyone surprising the residents of Trichy.
Arrangements were made on Cauvery Bridge from where the idols were immersed in the river.
Initially the organizers had considered the Friday immersion as inauspicious but the ceremony had ended on more than a happy note with the warmth of brotherhood between different religions. The police also made sure that the celebrations take place in the most peaceful way.
Vinayaka Chathurthi fever caught up in Trichy a month ago with the preparation of colourful idols of Lord Vinayaka. Meanwhile, the festival organizers were also locking horns as some of them felt that the immersion on a Friday was inauspicious. With strict orders from the city police commissioner to take up the procession and immersion on Friday, this year's Chathurthi celebrations came to a peaceful end on Friday.
Only 174 committees to take part in the procession and immersion. Yadav did not allow increasing of the number of committees as permitted last year while he asked newer communities to merge with existing communities. Traffic was also managed effectively to prevent tight paralyzed snarls from congesting the traffic. .The police ordered the organizers to start the procession by 4 pm, but the commencement was delayed by half an hour. A large posse of police personnel were deployed for security
(AW- Anil)
