Mumbai: Mumbai has bid an emotional farewell to Lord Ganesha after days of grand celebrations, colourful processions and devotional fervour. The 12-day Ganeshotsav concluded with the immersion of thousands of idols across the city, while the farewell processions continued through the night and into Saturday morning.
The festival began on September 14, with Anant Chaturdashi falling on September 25. While most idols were immersed on Friday, some of Mumbai’s iconic public Ganesh idols completed their marathon processions on Saturday morning.
Lalbaugcha Raja gets grand farewell
The biggest attraction of the concluding celebrations was the immersion procession of Lalbaugcha Raja, which drew huge crowds of devotees along the streets of Mumbai.
After a procession lasting more than 21 hours, the iconic idol reached Girgaon Chowpatty, where it was immersed in the Arabian Sea at around 10:50 am on September 26. The immersion followed traditional prayers and aarti, with the idol being taken into deeper waters on a barge.
The Chinchpokhlicha Chintamani idol was also immersed at Girgaon Chowpatty at around 10 am, followed by other prominent public Ganesh idols.
Mumbai’s emotion at its peak Lalbaugcha Raja Ganpati Visarjan.
A sea of devotees, chants of “Ganpati Bappa Morya”, and countless eyes trying to hold onto one last darshan of Bappa. pic.twitter.com/XnWDtI4mfF
— Akanksha Parmar (@iAkankshaP) September 25, 2026
Nearly 2 lakh idols immersed
The scale of the festival was reflected in the number of immersions recorded across Mumbai. According to figures cited from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 199,325 idols were immersed during the festival.
This included 182,048 household idols, 10,536 public Ganesh idols and 6,741 Gauri/Hartalika idols.
From small household processions to massive public mandals, Mumbai’s streets remained packed with devotees chanting “Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudchya Varshi Lavkar Ya” as the idols made their final journey.
Massive arrangements for safe immersion
The BMC and Mumbai Police made extensive arrangements to manage the enormous crowds. More than 25,000 civic personnel and over 24,000 police personnel were deployed across the city.
The BMC had prepared 67 natural immersion sites and 383 artificial ponds at 278 locations. The arrangements also included lifeguards, ambulances, motorboats, floodlights, control rooms and observation towers.
The civic body also encouraged devotees to use artificial ponds as part of its environmentally conscious immersion arrangements. BMC has stated that idols immersed in artificial ponds can help reduce pressure on natural water bodies, while collected nirmalya is processed for composting.
Mumbai returns to normal after the celebrations
As the final major idols were immersed, civic workers began cleaning immersion points and the major procession routes. The festival once again transformed Mumbai into a sea of devotion, music and colour before giving way to the familiar rhythm of the city.
For millions of devotees, however, the farewell was not an ending but a promise of reunion next year — “Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudchya Varshi Lavkar Ya.”
