Lalbaugcha Raja to resume Ganeshotsav festivities after last year's Covid-19 hiatus

MUMBAI: The Lalbaugcha Raja Ganpati Mandal will go ahead with Ganeshotsav celebrations this year after last year's Covid-19 hiatus. Given that the pandemic has not yet subsided, physical darshan will not be permitted.
"We held a special general body meeting of Mandal members on Saturday and decided that we will host the idol this year. Of course, we shall dutifully observe all government guidelines and civic rules," said Mandal president Balasaheb Kamble.
"The moorti will be 4 ft tall as per the state's guidelines. Physical darshan will be banned and no queues will be formed for either 'mannat' or 'mukhdarshan'. No worshippers will be permitted to touch the feet of the 'moorti' either. Devotees may seek darshan online on the mandal's live streaming platform."
Nearly all of the mandal's office bearers and volunteers have taken the Covid vaccine. The president said, "Approximately 3,000 families live in the vicinity of the pandal of which over 90 per cent have been inoculated. Our 3,000-odd volunteers have been vaccinated too. Most have taken the second dose as well."
The previous year, the Lalbaugcha Raja Mandal had forgone the idol entirely. Instead, it had organised an Aarogya Utsav or health camp, a special plasma collection drive for Covid-19 patients, and donated over Rs 1 crore in charity to the families of Covid victims and Galwan martyrs.
"We had distributed Rs 1 lakh each to families of policemen, BMC workers and government employees who lost their lives to this disease. We gave Rs 2 lakh to the families of soldiers killed in the Galwan conflict," Kamble said.
The fact that no light is yet visible at the end of the tunnel has compelled mandals to end their self-imposed moratorium on celebration. "No one knows when the Covid pandemic will end. The ICMR is unable to say, the WHO is unable to say. So we decided to resume our tradition lest it fades away," said Kamble.
Meanwhile, Naresh Dahibawkar, president of the Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti lauded the mandal's decision to resume festivities with proper precautions.