Four-feet Ganesh idols, online darshan, distributing prasad by courier, conducting medical camps, and felicitating COVID-19 warriors - Mumbai's Sarvajanik Ganpati pandals are adopting new ways to celebrate a sombre 11-day Ganeshotsav in 2020. Slated to begin from August 22, Ganeshotsav which is celebrated with much fanfare in the city , will see subdued celebrations this year as the city follows the State government's guidelines for celebrating the festival during COVID-19 times.
While Mumbai's collective active case load decreases, its fatality rate stands at 5% which is way higher than the country's 1.9% and the state's 3.35%.
Till 11 AM, August 21, The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received over 2350 permissions from pandals of which it has only approved 1820 while another 274 are still being reviewed. It has rejected 256 permission requests on grounds of them violating social distancing guidelines. In any given year, the city sees around 14,000 Ganesh pandals, several with idols as high as 25 feet.
This year, however, the government has asked that the idols be limited to four feet at the pandals while idols being brought home should be limited to two feet. Families and volunteers at the pandals have been requested to bring the murtis a few days before Chaturthi to avoid crowding at the idol warehouses.
Along with these, the visarjan, the immersion practices followed with much fanfare on the 11th day should be carried out in artificial lakes or ponds in the vicinity of the pandals. Beaches should be accessed only by residents staying within 1-2 kms. The city officials have prepared 167 artificial lakes while the city already has 70 natural immersion spots. For societies in containment zones, special provisions have been made for the same, a BMC spokesperson told BOOM.
Normally, family and pandal members, themselves, conduct the immersion process. This year, however, all the idols will be collected at one spot from where trained volunteers working with the civic body will complete the immersion process.
Every ward will have 7-8 idol collection sites wherein residents will be expected to leave their Ganesh idols. "We wish that the citizens will complete all their immersion pujas at home so as to avoid crowding at the collection spots," reads a circular released by the civic body on August 17.
Also Read:Explained: How Ganeshotsav Will Be Different In Maharashtra This Year
How Are The Famous Pandals Celebrating This Year?
Mumbai's Lalbaugcha Raja, GSB Seva Mandal, Andhericha Raja, Ganesh Galli, Chinchpoklicha Chintamani, Fortcha Raja are some of the few Ganesh pandals that witness a huge visitor turnout every year. This year, most of them have adopted live darshans via Youtube, their websites, or social media channels
The most famous Lalbaugcha Raja mandal has announced that it will not be celebrating the festival in its 87th year. Instead, the mandal is conducting plasma donation camps with KEM hospital between August 3 and August 31.
Chinchpoklicha Raja is going ahead with a silver idol whose darshan will only be available to volunteers and residents of the area. Devotees will have to strictly wear masks and follow social distancing norms. They will be felicitating COVID-19 warriors during the festival.
Mumbai's richest Ganpati mandal, GSB is going to courier the prasad of the pujas to the houses of the devotees. "We are following sanitary precautions but no in-person darshans this year. All our pujas will air live on our channels. We are also only accepting applications for the pujas online," said Ramesh Bhandarkar, Chairman of the GSB Mandal.
Both Ganesh Galli and GSB have planned in-house immersion instead of going to the beach for immersing the idols that they normally follow. Ganesh Galli known for its grand decorations promises to celebrate the festival next year with double the fanfare.