Devotees welcome Lord Ganesh amidst heavy traffic jams across Maharashtra
Mumbai: Plagued by the political unrest, Maharashtra is eagerly looking forward to the festival season, as the state is all set to welcome its most favourite god Ganpati with the 11-day Ganeshotsav beginning from Saturday. However, the enthusiasm was dampened by the huge traffic jams on major roads in the state, which caused a lot of inconvenience to devotees heading to their hometowns for the festival.
Ganeshotsav is the biggest festival of Maharashtra with this year marking the 132nd year of public celebrations. Idols of Lord Ganesh are installed in homes and at pandals across the state with pomp and gaiety. In the state, the festival is being celebrated at more than 10 lakh places, including homes, housing complexes and public places.
Huge crowds are expected at some of the famous Ganpati Mandals in Mumbai like Lalbaugcha Raja, Ganesh Gully, Tejukaya Mandal, GSB Seva Mandal, Khetwadi, Sahyadri Mandal, Andhericha Raja in the coming days during the festival.
However, thousands of people from Mumbai, who were making their way to the Konkan region for the Ganeshotsav celebrations, were stuck in heavy traffic congestions on the Mumbai-Goa highway, which resulted in significant delays and difficulties for them. Long queues of vehicles were seen moving at a snail’s pace along the highway for the second consecutive day.
Similar scenes were witnessed on other major roads like Mumbai-Pune Expressway, where the traffic is particularly heavy on the lane coming from Mumbai towards Pune, and Pune-Banglore Highway with commuters finding it difficult to make progress due to the gridlock.
In an effort to bring relief to commuters, the Maharashtra government has already announced to waive toll tax for all Ganesha devotees traveling to Konkan for Ganeshotsav, as well as buses of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).
In Mumbai, where devotees flock to seek darshan of Sarvajanik (community) Ganpatis in huge numbers, the city transport undertaking BEST has introduced 24 night special buses to accommodate devotees and tourists visiting various Ganesh pandals. The Metro services will also offer additional services from key Metro stations.
Meanwhile, chief minister Eknath Shinde has greeted the people of Maharashtra on the eve of Ganeshotsav and appealed to celebrate the festival in an eco-friendly way.
“The arrival of Shri Ganaraya will bring happiness, health, prosperity and satisfaction to everyone who is working to speed up the development of the state and for farmers, labourers, workers, women, children and elders of the state,” the CM said.