PANJIM: The annual Ganesh festival started in Goa on Saturday but the usual pomp and glory was a major miss due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
With strict norms in place, many citizens visited the sculptors to bring idols home to perform rituals on the eve of one of the grand festivals in the State. However, the celebration mood, bursting of firecrackers and playing of bands was missing.
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The Sarvajanik (community) mandals did away with the pandals and instead celebrated the festival on a smaller scale. All cultural and other events this year have been banned to stop the spread of the infection.
In Panjim, where a huge pandal opposite Panjim Church Square attracts a huge number of devotees every year, did not host the mega event this year while the organisers installed the idol in a tempo with only a priest allowed to perform the rituals. At Porvorim, the Neelkanth Brahmeshwar Ganpati Utsav Samiti also followed a similar plan by installing the idol in its office. Majority of the mandals restricted the celebration to one and half day as against nine days or 11 days, followed until last year.
The State Disaster Management Authority, in an advisory issued prior to the commencement of the festival, imposed tough anti-coronavirus restrictions on gatherings and the size of Ganesha idols, which has been shrunk to maximum 4 feet.
As the Standard Operating Procedures for the Ganeshotsav celebrations that also includes exempting any welcome processions and maintaining social distancing is in place; many people made use of technology by opting for digital puja through apps. One of these included V-Pandit, a newly formed digital platform by movingants.in wherein Chaturthi rituals were performed step-by-step without the physical presence of a priest at home.
In Panjim where the COVID-19 cases are witnessing a huge spike, Corporation of City of Panaji earlier this week issued specific guidelines to be followed during the Ganesh festival within its jurisdiction.
The Ganesh Committees as well as individuals are directed not to use fireworks or crackers so as to avoid pollution during the festival. The bursting of firecrackers is also disallowed during idol immersion, timing of which is scheduled between 5pm to 10pm only across 12 identified points. Individual celebration was also restricted to only home members and CCP issued a ban on any celebration in the containment zones.
