489 Pune villages go ahead with ‘One village, one Ganpati’ this year

‘Ek Gaon, Ek Ganpati’ is being implemented by the rural police and the ‘Tanta Mukti Samiti’ for the last eight years and last year, 542 villages participated in it

The concept of ‘One Village, One Ganpati’ or ‘Ek Gaon, Ek Ganpati’ as it is colloquially known will bring together 489 villages this year.

The concept of ‘One Village One Ganpati’ was started to stop competition happening among mandals (youth groups) in the villages. (Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)

Suvez Huk, superintendent of police, rural police, said, “Yes, the numbers are less compared to last year because many villages that participated last year are not participating this year. However, we got many new villages this year who have shown an interest in the ‘Ek Gaon, Ek Ganpati’ initiative and are taking part.’’

‘Ek Gaon, Ek Ganpati’ is being implemented by the rural police and the ‘Tanta Mukti Samiti’ for the last eight years and last year, 542 villages participated.

The process of approvals is still on and numbers may go up, but are unlikely to match the previous year’s figures.

Rural police administration say they will have to examine why the number of villages participating decreased this year.

The concept of ‘One Village One Ganpati’ was started to stop competition happening among mandals (youth groups) in the villages, which each organising and displaying its own idol.

This would lead to unhealthy competition and often there was conflict. Sound, water and pollution were other issues that were raised by multiple Ganesh mandals in one village. Hence, the rural police stepped in to unite many villages in celebrating the festival together.