Coronavirus Lockdown: Many Ganesh Mandals cancel public celebrations in Mumbai

With the Ganesh festival not even a week away, it appears that several Sarvajanik Mandals have cancelled the celebrations this time in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

Since 1893, public Ganesh festival celebrations have been part of the identity of Mumbai. But with Covid-19 pandemic, things have changed in the new normal.

The MMR comprises five districts of Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburbs, Thane, Palghar and Raigad.

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The 11-day festival, during which people worship God Ganesha, commences on 22 August on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi and ends on 1 September on Anant Chaturdashi.

In the MMR there are nearly 4,500 to 5,000 Sarvajanik Mandals, who erect pandals in streets, complexes and playgrounds to celebrate the festival. In Mumbai itself, there are 2,700-odd Mandals.

According to figures collected from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti (BSGSS), the apex body of Ganesh Mandals, several public celebrations have been cancelled.

Nearly 60 to 70% of applications have been received which is a drastic drop.

“There are various issues...health, hygiene, physical distancing. People have suffered pay cuts, companies have incurred losses,” BSGSS president Naresh Dahibhavbkar told DH on Monday.

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Similarly, several housing societies, who install idols, would be skipping and so would many households.

The first one to cancel celebrations was the Gaud Saraswat Brahmin (GSB) Ganesh festival at Wadala and 21 Ganesh Mandals of Khetwadi, which decided not to have celebrations and instead do it during Maghi Ganesh Chaturthi, that falls on 15 February 2021.

The Lalbaugcha-Raja cancelled the celebrations and would be undertaking blood donation and plasma donation camps. The Shivaji Park Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav Mandal would be organising blood donation camps.

Follow: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on August 17

The coastal Konkan belt and the golden triangle of Mumbai, Pune and Nashik, is in a way the focal point of celebrations in the state with the maximum public celebrations being held here.

In some of the villages in the twin Konkan districts of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, in some places, they have decided to have one Ganesh idol per village.

According to journalist and writer Prakash Akolkar, from the 1st day to the 11th day, there are activities. “The Aagaman and Visarjan too are big events. In Pune and Nashik, the procession is grand and so as the immersion ceremony in Mumbai,” he said, adding that because of norms of physical distancing and hygiene, the people who depend on the festival for livelihood are going to be impacted.

“In Mumbai itself, the turnover of the Ganesh festival is of the order of Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 crore,” said veteran Mumbai expert and writer Ajit Joshi, who tracks small businesses.

"The Ganpati market is huge. It encompasses idol making, decoration items, flowers, sweets, fruits and coconuts, electric items, decoration items, transportation, jewellery and imitation jewellery, clothes, band troupe and so on," said Joshi.