Maha: Ganesh idols immersed sans processions in Pune

Kasba Ganapati is a gramdaivat town deity of Pune city and is thus called the first manacha Ganapati.Shete said many devotees preferred virtual darshan of Lord Ganesh in the last ten days in view of curbs on social gatherings.

For the second year in a row, Lord Ganesh's idols were immersed without public processions on the last day of the ten-day festival here in Maharashtra on Sunday because of COVID-19 restrictions. Amid chants of ''Ganpati Bappa Moraya'', idols of the five ''Manache (prominent) Ganpati'' - Kasba Ganesh, Tambdi Jogeshwari, Guruji Talim, Tulshibaug, and Kesari Wada - were immersed in artificial tanks set up at their respective pandals.

As per the tradition, the idol of Kasba Ganesh, the first 'manacha Ganpati', was placed in a palanquin, which was carried amidst the chants of ''Ganpati Bappa Moraya''. It was immersed in the decorated water tank in the pandal premises.

''Keeping the restrictions in mind and the scare of COVID-19, we celebrated the whole festival in a simple manner. As Kasba Mandal believes in discipline, the immersion took place in the presence of ten devotees at the pandal premises,'' said Shrikant Shete, one of the trustees of the mandal. Kasba Ganapati is a 'gramdaivat' (town deity) of Pune city and is thus called the first 'manacha' Ganapati.

Shete said many devotees preferred virtual darshan of Lord Ganesh in the last ten days in view of curbs on social gatherings. ''We received a huge response to the virtual darshan facility. Over three lakh views (of devotees) were recorded on the social media platforms,'' Shete added.

Besides Kasba Ganesh, idols of Lord Ganesh from the other four Mandals were immersed at their respective pandals by 2 pm.

The idols of other key Ganesh mandals, including Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati, Bhau Rangari, and Akhil Mandai Mandal, were also immersed by 7 pm, police said. All these mandals immersed the idols in the artificial tanks at their premises. Meanwhile, police seized dhol and other musical instruments outside the Tulshibaug mandal as some devotees gathered there started dancing and tried to take out a procession.

''As some devotees started playing dhols and other instruments, we immediately stopped them,'' said Ravindra Shisave, joint commissioner of police (law and order).

He said all the mandals are cooperating with the administration by adhering to the COVID-19 rules and regulations.

In normal times, big processions are taken out on the last day of the festival called ''Anant Chaturdashi''.

All shops under the non-essential category remained closed in the municipal corporation limits of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad and in three cantonment areas on Sunday to avoid crowding on roads.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)