For the second year in a row, all the mandals in the city have decided to celebrate the 10-day long Ganesh festival from September 10 to 19 in a simple way, without processions or crowds.
Mayor Murlidhar Mohol held a meeting on Thursday with representatives of Ganesh Mandal, civic officials and police officials to plan the upcoming festival, one being held in the shadow of another COVID-19 pandemic pandemic.
“The city has a 125-year-old tradition of celebrating Ganesh Utsav with a grand celebration. However, last year the festival was celebrated in a simplistic manner due to the outbreak of Covid-19 cases. The situation is now under control but there is a fear of a third wave of infection. This year also all Ganesh Mandals have agreed to celebrate the festival in a simple manner without any decorations and processions,” the mayor said.
“The fear of a third wave continues… The state government has also urged the mandals to keep the Ganesh Utsav celebrations simple and the mandals have agreed to it,” he said.
Mandals have been asked to broadcast aarti, puja and cultural programs online. Mohol said that they would also help the Pune Municipal Corporation by running a health awareness campaign during the festival.
The mayor said that this year, mandals need not visit the PMC or local police stations to get permission to organize the festival, adding that the permission granted to mandals in 2019 will be considered valid this year as well.
PMC will allow setting up of stalls for sale of Ganesh idols on vacant plots in the city, so that such stalls do not come up on city roads.
Mohol also appealed to the local residents to keep the celebration simple at home and immerse the idol in their premises.
“Last year, PMC had installed 108 mobile water tanks in the city for immersion of idols and it received a good response, with 80 per cent of over six lakh idols being immersed either at home or in mobile water tanks. Was. This year the number of mobile water tanks will be increased to 150.
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