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Public-safety, a primary focus during 10-day festival
On Friday, the city markets had a rush of people to buy decoration material, sweets and other things needed for the festival
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The 2020 Ganesh festival has gone to another level in terms of public safety, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Though there won’t be any grand celebrations by Ganpati mandals this year, the enthusiasm of Punekars to welcome Ganesha at home is high.
On Friday, the city markets had a rush of people to buy decoration material, sweets and other things needed for the festival. Also, the Ganpati idol shops were busy in attending customers with proper social distancing.
“I have come to Bohri Aali market to buy a decoration set for our household Ganpati celebration. We are not going to make it big this year, as we do every year but we also cannot stop our happiness to welcome Ganpati, it’s time to forget all worries now and we hope that with the arrival of Ganesha, the Covid-19 will also go soon,” said Sneha Jain, a local resident.
Abhishek Khole, a local resident said, “We are blessed with a baby boy in the month of June this year and so Ganpati celebration this year is special for us. There are no big decoration plans as such, but to make it special we have come to the market to buy some good decorative material. It’s important to take all safety measures and keep social distancing even during the festive season.”
There was moderate crowd seen on Friday across the city market areas like Bohri Aali, Raviwar peth market, Tulshibaug market, Laxmi road, Tilak road and other prominent places where people normally come for Ganpati festival shopping.
At some of the famous shops there was a heavy rush and people were allowed to enter in queue inside the shop to maintain social distancing.
One such shop owner in Bohri Aali market, Kailas Dave said, “From the past one week, the crowd went on increasing in the market and today a day prior to the festival there is a heavy rush. People are taking safety precautions but are coming to buy decoration material. We have also kept a sanitizer and are doing thermal checking of each customer before they enter the shop. People without a face mask are not allowed to enter the shop.”
Similarly, crowd was seen at Ganpati idol shops across the city. This year, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has not given permission to install temporary idol shops to erect pandals on road but still hundreds of idol businesses have sprung up in makeshift shops temporarily.
Yogesh Jagdale one such Ganpati idol seller on Satara road said, “I have started the Ganpati idol shop in an open space of a building parking area. Every year, we used to have a pandal but this time as we didn’t get the permission we rented out this place for 15 days. And we are getting a good response, until now 70 per cent of our idols are booked and today is a crucial day for us. On the day before the festival maximum idols are sold.”
