Lalbaugcha Raja Ganeshotsav Mandal will celebrate Ganesh Utsav in traditional way this year adhering to all COVID-19 related guidelines and restrictions, ANI reported.
Last year, a blood and plasma donation camp was organised in place of Ganesh Mahotsav celebrations due to COVID-19.
The 11-day festival will commence on September 10 this year. Last year too, the state government restricted the festivities in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state government issued guidelines for Ganesh Chaturthi and made it mandatory for all mandals to take permission from the concerned municipality or local authority and limit the height of the idol to 4 feet. This has not gone down well with the mandals, who have urged the state government to review the orders and relax the restrictions a bit.
There are a total of 13,000 sarvajanik mandals in the city, of which 3,070 mandals are big.
The state has issued a 13-point charter, asking people to observe the festival in a restricted and simple manner. Major restrictions like last year are the cap on the height of the idols. The height of idols cannot exceed 4 feet for mandals in public places and 2 feet for households. The guidelines further state that, people should worship metal, marble or clay idols at home as much as possible and idols should be immersed at artificial ponds prepared by the local authority. The state government has said welcome processions (Aagman Sohla) on the first day of the festival and all immersion days including the major one on the 10th day will not be allowed.
Instead of cultural programmes, organisers have been asked to arrange health and blood donation camps. Large pandals have been asked to ensure that there is no crowding at their locations and have also asked them to create a facility for online darshan.
