Mumbai sees muted Ganesh visarjan festivities this year as Covid keeps crowds away

The 10-day Ganeshotsav is usually a lavish spectacle in Mumbai, but this year's festivities were missing the loud celebrations and crowds that typically choke the city.

A small group of men carry an idol of Lord Ganesh for visarjan (immersion) in the Arabian Sea near the Gateway of India in Mumbai's Colaba area Tuesday | Vasant Prabhu | ThePrint

Mumbai: The 10-day Ganeshotsav ended Tuesday and while it is usually a lavish spectacle in the city of Mumbai, this year’s festivities were muted and much smaller in scale, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. There were many restrictions in place throughout the festival, especially for the final day of Ganesh visarjan (immersion of the idol), also called Anant Chaturdashi.

Around 35,000 police personnel were stationed across Mumbai to manage the crowds, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation also made arrangements for a smooth immersion of idols.

Currently, there are more than 19 lakh active cases novel coronavirus in Maharashtra.

ThePrint brings you a glimpse of how the pandemic has affected Ganeshotsav celebrations in Mumbai with Vasant Prabhu’s photographs from 2019 and 2020.

A view of Girgaum-Chowpatty, a popular spot for Ganesh visarjan, in Mumbai | Vasant Prabhu | ThePrint

The Girgaum-Chowpatty beach usually witnesses overwhelming crowds and the area around it is riddled with traffic jams on the final day of Ganeshotsav, but this year, it saw few devotees | Vasant Prabhu | ThePrint

Only a few people showed up for Ganesh visarjan at the Gateway of India, which is usually teeming with locals as well as tourists | Vasant Prabhu | ThePrint

Reports say around 28,000 idols were immersed at various visarjan points in the city through the 10-day festival. In previous years, this number has crossed 2 lakhs | Vasant Prabhu | ThePrint

Organisers of various Ganesh mandals were instructed to follow Covid-19 norms strictly, and the city’s famously massive Lalbaug mandal idol, called Lalbaugcha Raja, was replaced by a blood and plasma camp this year | Vasant Parbhu | ThePrint

To avoid crowding, people were advised to not to perform the aarti at visarjan points | Vasant Prabhu | ThePrint

A view of how the Ganesh visarjan at Girgaum-Chowpatty looked in 2019, when coronavirus was unheard of | Vasant Prabhu | ThePrint