COVID-19 lockdown: Iconic Lalbaugcha Raja to be replaced with miniature idol this Ganesh Chaturthi

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also has appealed to drop fanfare in the usually enthralling festival.

In more than eight decades, this is the first time that the gigantic idol will be replaced by a miniature figure of around 3-4 feet. Just, the ritualistic poojas will be performed keeping in accordance with the tradition.

The eleven-day festival, falling in the month of August this year, has attained a cult status as it has transitioned a period of 127 years.

In normal times, this metropolis beholds a riveting sight when the massive crowd of devotees, all drenched in rains, swarm Mumbai shores to immerse Ganpati Bappa, with a reverberating echo of 'Pudchya Varshi Laukar Yaa' in Marathi, means mark your presence even earlier next year.

However, the Maharashtra government has asked all the major mandals across the State to give a deliberate miss to such fanfare this year owing to the pandemic constraint.

The mandals have thoughtfully acceded to the request, with the resolve to celebrate Ganeshotsav 2020 with more devotion and install miniature figures, which is a first in over four decades.

Addressing mediapersons, Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal Secretary Sudhir Salvi told, "This year, we shall celebrate Ganeshotsav as ‘Arogyautsav’ with eleven days of blood and plasma donation camps, donate Rs 25 lakhs to the CM Relief Fund for Corona aid, help families of the soldiers martyred in the recent border skirmish and Maharashtra police personnel who lost their lives in the ongoing war against virus."

Image: UNI