The annual Ganesh festival, one of the biggest festivals celebrated in Maharashtra, will turn into ‘health festival’ this year owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. Majority of Ganesh mandals in the State have decided to refrain from public celebrations and instead, support the fight against Covid-19 by helping hospitals.

About 300 villages in Kolhapur district in south Maharashtra will celebrate the festival without much funfair and install only one idol in each village. Over 97 Gram Panchayats in the district have decided to provide medical help to Covid-19 patients.

In Mumbai, the famous Lalbaugcha Raja Ganesh Mandal, which installs Mumbai’s most famous Ganpati idol, has decided to cancel the celebrations. The Mandal will organise blood and plasma donation camps and provide financial assistance to the families of policemen who died of Covid-19.

In Pune the celebrations will be low key. The Dagdusheth Ganesh mandal will break the 127-year-old tradition of holding public ceremonies during the festival.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has appealed to Ganesh mandals in Maharashtra to ensure that the festival does not derail the ongoing fight against Covid-19.

 

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