Ganeshotsav will be celebrated in five districts of Kashmir from next year; mandal workers from Kashmir resolve in Pune
Three mandals from the valley handed over Ganpati idols; Young Entrepreneur Punit Balan and Ganesh mandals’ praiseworthy initiative
Pune: The Ganpati Festival celebrations started in the Kashmir valley after 34 years two years ago. Currently, the festival is held at three places. It will be organised in five districts from next year. Ganesh mandal workers from Kashmir expressed their confidence in the city.
A one-and-a-half day and five-day festival is being celebrated at Lal Chowk in Srinagar in Kashmir from 2023. Later, the festival was held at three places last year. It will be held at three places again this year, for which replicas of Ganesh idols of Manache Ganpati from Pune were handed over to the mandal workers from Kashmir. The Kesariwada Ganesh idol replica was given to the Lal Chowk Ganpati Mandal, Akhil Mandai Mandal’s Sharada-Ganesh idol was handed over to Indira Nagar Mandal in Srinagar while Shrimant Bhausaheb Rangari Ganpati Mandal’s idol was given to a mandal in South Kashmir.
Shrimant Bhausaheb Rangari Ganpati Mandal Celebration Chief and Trustee Punit Balan, Akhil Mandai Mandal’s Suraj Thorat, Kesariwada Ganpati Mandal’s Anil Sapkal, Guruji Talim Mandal’s Prithviraj Pardeshi, Tulshibaug Mandal’s Vinayak Kadam, Jogeshwari Mandal’s Prasad Kulkarni, Shrimant Bhausaheb Rangari Ganapati Mandal President Sanjeev Jawale, along with office-bearers and mandal workers from Kashmir Mohit Bhan, Sandip Raina, Sunny Raina, Amit Kumar Bhatt, Sandip Kaul, Shishan Chaku and Uday Bhat were present.
Speaking on the occasion, Srinagar-based Lal Chowk Ganapati Yar Mandal’s Mohit Bhan said, “We held discussions with Punit Balan to resume Ganeshotsav in Kashmir three years ago. He promised to whole-heartedly help in organising the festival there. In the first year, a one-and-a-half day and five-day festival was held. We celebrated it at three places last year. We want to organise the fest in Kashmir, the way it is held in Maharashtra. Therefore, we plan to celebrate Ganeshotsav at five places in Kashmir from next year. We are praying to Bappa that the Kashmiri Pandits should return to the valley and live happily and in peace there.”
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“Pune’s glorious Ganeshotsav is celebrated in 175 countries across the world. However, the festival was not celebrated in Kashmir after 1989. We have been collectively trying to fill that gap for the past two years. Pune mandals and workers from Kashmir responded positively to our efforts. I am satisfied that the chant of ‘Ganpati Bappa Morya’ is being raised in India’s heaven – Kashmir. I heartily thank Ganesh mandals and workers from Kashmir for cooperating to hold the festival in Kashmir!”
– Punit Balan, Celebration Chief and Trustee, Shrimant Bhausaheb Rangari Ganpati Mandal
