31, including kids, killed during Ganesh festivities across states

At least 31 people, including several children, died in separate incidents on the last few days of the Ganesh Chaturthi across Maharashtra, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, officials close to the matter said on Saturday.

The 10-day festival, which began on August 31, ended on Friday

In Maharashtra, police confirmed that 20 people had died on the last day of Ganesh puja, 14 of them due to drowning. In Wardha district, three persons drowned at Sawangi, while another died similarly at Devli, a police official said.

Two persons drowned in a pond in Yavatmal district during the immersion of a Ganesh idol, while in Ahmednagar district, two others drowned in separate incidents at Supa and Belvandi, police said. Two more died in Jalgaon in North Maharashtra, while one each died in similar immersion-related incidents in Ghodegat and Yavat in Pune. Four persons were killed in a road accident in the Sakkardara area of Nagpur city during the Ganesh procession, police added.

In Thane, a 55-year-old woman was killed and four others injured after a tree collapsed on a Ganesh pandal in Kolbad due to the heavy rains on Friday night. “The woman, Rajashri Walavalkar, was declared brought dead at the hospital,” a police official.

In Haryana, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar expressed grief over the death of at least six men during Ganesh idol immersions in the Mahendragarh and Sonipat districts. “The news of the untimely death of many people due to drowning in the canal during Ganpati immersion in Mahendragarh and Sonipat districts is heart-wrenching. We all stand with the families of the deceased in this difficult time. NDRF team has saved many people from drowning, I pray for their speedy recovery,” tweeted Manohar Lal Khattar.

In Mahendragarh, over 20 people attended a Ganesh idol immersion near a canal in Jhagadoli village, of which eight were submerged. Four of the young men were however rescued in time. Similarly, in Sonipat, at least two young men drowned in the Yamuna during the immersion.

Meanwhile, three children died in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh. “Two children drowned to death while a third died during treatment in Unnao. They had gone for the immersion of Lord Ganesh idols today in river Ganga in Kotwali Safipur area when the incident took place,” said police.

In Sant Kabir Nagar’s Maghar, too, four children died after drowning in the Aami River. SP Sonam Kumar said, “Four children – Pauphia (6), Ajit (6), Ruby (8) and Dipali (11)– had gone to see the immersion. The children entered the river and drowned.”

(WITH PTI INPUTS)