The immersion processions of Lord Ganesh idols began in Maharashtra’s Pune city on Thursday, with devotees bidding farewell to the elephant-headed God and urging him to come back fast next year.

Amid beats of drums and the traditional dhol-tasha, devotees led the processions of the city’s five most prominent mandals - Kasba Ganpati,Tambadi Jogeswari mandal, Gurji Talim mandal, Tulshi Baug mandal and Kesariwada mandal - with much fanfare and zeal. As the processions passed through the city roads, devotees chanted “Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudachya Varshi Lavkar Ya” (HailLord Ganesh, come back fast next year).

After passing through various prominent areas of Pune, the idols would be immersed in the Mutha river here.More than 8,000 personnel havebeen deployed to guard the immersion processions while 169 CCTV cameras anddrones have also been installed to keep an eye on them, Pune Police Commissioner K Venkatesham earlier said.The 10-day long festival began with the Ganesh Chaturthi on September 2.It is set to conclude on Thursday, on the occasion of‘Anant Chaturdashi’, with the ‘visarjan’ (immersion) of idols.