Mumbaikars all set to celebrate Ganpati festival without pandemic curbs

Mumbai:  Mumbaikars are all set to enjoy Ganpati festivities from August 31 without coronavirus-induced restrictions for the first time since 2020.

While almost all restrictions had been lifted in Maharashtra since April 2, the Eknath Shinde government last month announced that Ganpati festivities in the state would be held like pre-COVID times.

Thousands of people are expected to visit pandals (public arenas where celebrations are helmed by organising groups called mandals) for 10 days starting from Ganesh Chaturthi, which falls on August 31.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials on Saturday said the civic body had received 3,500 applications for erection of public pandals for Ganpati, a sizable increase from the 2,400 permission given last year.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 had forced the civic body to impose several restrictions on the festivities, including a height cap for idols at four feet and two feet for 'sarvajanik' (public) and households respectively.

Other restrictions comprised cap on visitor numbers, installing pandemic-curbing items like sanitizers as well as enforcing mask and social distancing norms.

While the height restriction for idols has been removed, BMC officials said households have been requested to cap it at two feet.

Incidentally, the BMC this year has also allowed idols made from Plaster of Paris (PoP), usually restricted for being harmful to the environment, as a special case.

The lack of restrictions has already brought a buzz in areas like Fort, Lalbaug, Andheri, Chembur, Kurla, where extensive lighting and decorations are being installed at pandals.