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Lack of control, mismanagement leads to chaos on Pune streets during Ganpati immersion
Thousands of people made way to the old city of Pune on Friday and Saturday to catch a glimpse of the Ganpati immersion procession, however, people were greeted with utter chaos as police and municipal corporation have mandals a free hand as chief minister Eknath Shinde lifted all restrictions
Thousands of people made way to the old city of Pune on Friday and Saturday to catch a glimpse of the Ganpati immersion procession, however, people were greeted with utter chaos as police and municipal corporation have mandals a free hand as chief minister Eknath Shinde lifted all restrictions.
This year, the five Manache Ganpati mandals- Kasba Ganpati, Tambdi Jogeshwari, Guruji Taalim, Tulsibaug and Kesari Wada took longer time to reach the Alka Talkies chowk. Kasba Ganpati mandal reached late in the afternoon, while Kesari Wada was delayed due to two mandals cutting the line to reach the chowk at 8.30 pm.
“There are simply too many people on the road and refuse to budge to let the Ganpati pass through,” said Rohit Tilak, trustee of the Kesari Wada Ganpati.
With the police turning a blind eye to the management of the crowd, the roads were a sea of people, who simply refused to budge despite announcements. Children, women were getting crushed and the police only left them with stern warning while watching this from the sides.
Police commissioner Amitabh Gupta said, police made every effort to finish the procession in time. “Although initial few Ganpati mandals took time to finish their immersion, we ensured that others will complete it within time from Saturday morning,” said Gupta.
On mandals part, there was disregard to law and order with workers and the dhol tasha pathaks taking longer time to pass through the main chowks of Belbaug, Samadhan chowk. “We are new to the force and this is the first time we are given this duty for Ganpati procession. We have no idea what to do,” said a group of policemen who were fresh out of training and were perplexed with the huge amount of people jostling for space at Tilak road.
By 8.30 pm, some two-wheelers and some cars also broke through the barricade set by the police to add to the confusion when some mandals on Tilak road had to stop until the vehicles could be moved by the police.
The disco generation DJ Ganpati mandals also disregarded the police warnings and continued to play loud lewd music post-midnight on Tilak road until the commissioner of police had to step in and had a brush in with some mandal volunteers too.
This year, there was an increase in foreigners to the procession too. “It is great that we can be here for this grand procession but the crowd is overwhelming,” said Anne Marie from France.
Despite the delay, people could not stop themselves from enjoying the various dekhave and dancing on the beats of the many dhol tasha pathaks
