After 2 years in custody, police hand over Ganesh idol to MLA
Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar while performing pooja before the visarjan of the Murgaoncha Raja Ganesh idol at Baina Beach.
Photo Credits: Vikram Nayak
VASCO
It is rare to have a Ganesh Visarjan in April and even more unusual when the ceremony takes place after the Ganesh idol is released from the Mormugao police station after nearly two years.
This is exactly what happened when Mormugao police handed over the Ganesh idol, which was in its custody, to Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar in the presence of members of Murgaoncha Raja Group.
Later, Amonkar along with other members of the Group and a large number of residents across all religions finally performed the pooja, before immersing the Ganesh idol at Baina beach.
Murgaoncha Raja President Suraj Chodankar, alias Balan, said he was unsure how and why the Ganesh idol was taken to the police station two years ago. “We had approached many people to get the idol released since the last two years but no one helped and we even requested the police to do the Visarjan in case they did not want to hand over the idol to us,” Chodankar told reporters. “Finally, Amonkar coordinated with everyone and government authorities to conduct the visarjan of the idol," said Chodankar
Social activist Xencor Polgi, who had been very vocal in demanding the release of the idol from the police station, said it was finally the victory of good over evil.
"We have a lot of people who have arrived from across all religions and we want to thank Mormugao DySP Nilesh Rane, our leader Suraj Chodankar and MLA Sankalp Amonkar for their efforts to bring the idol out of the police station after two years," said Polgi.
Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar said it was an emotional day for him and many people to see the idol back after two years and subsequently being immersed at Baina as per rituals. "We have made efforts to coordinate with the police, mamlatdar and dy collector, who supported us to get the idol released and do the Visarjan in the presence of so many people across different religions,” said Amonkar.
