On Sunday, the city turned into a sea of Warkaris with the arrival of both the Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj and Sant Tukaram Maharaj Palkhi processions. Hundreds of thousands of Warkaris arrived in the city chanting shlokas and singing bhajans, lending energy and festivity to the atmosphere.
The large influx of Warkaris impacted the city traffic however Punekars chose to grin and bear with the inconvenience in honour of the centuries-old tradition of walking from Dehu and Alandi to Pandharpur every year.
Pune municipal commissioner Rajendra Bhosale welcomed both the Palkhis on behalf of the citizens. Usually, the Pune mayor would welcome the Palkhi processions but with no elected members in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for quite some time now, commissioner Bhosale welcomed the Palkhi processions.
Minister of state for civil aviation Murlidhar Mohol, member of parliament (MP) Supriya Sule, and Maharashtra higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil participated in the processions. Many Punekars opted to walk with the Warkaris from Alandi to Pune. The Palkhi processions will be taking a halt in the city for two nights namely Sunday and Monday and will proceed to the next destination early morning Tuesday.
Meanwhile, various free services such as food, medical checkups and awareness programmes have been made available to the Warkaris by the government. The administration has made necessary arrangements for mobile public toilets, extra water supply and proper garbage management. Even health facilities have been set up at various places. From Pune, the two Palkhis will take different routes. The Sant Dnyaneshwar Palkhi will go towards the Solapur Highway and the Sant Tukaram Palkhi will go towards Saswad via Dive ghat.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, various free services such as food, medical checkups and awareness programmes have been made available to the Warkaris by the government. The administration has made necessary arrangements for mobile public toilets, extra water supply and proper garbage management. Even health facilities have been set up at various places. From Pune, the two Palkhis will take different routes. The Sant Dnyaneshwar Palkhi will go towards the Solapur Highway and the Sant Tukaram Palkhi will go towards Saswad via Dive ghat.
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