Published On : Fri, Aug 25th, 2017

With chants of Ganpati Bappa Morya, devotees welcome Lord Ganesh with zeal and fervour

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Nagpur: The dawn of Friday the August 25 ended the year-long wait of thousands and thousands of devotees as they welcomed their favourite deity – Lord Ganesh – to their aesthetically decorated homes with pomp and gaiety.

The preparations to welcome the elephant-headed god, started more than a month prior to the Ganesh Chaturthi that marks commencement of 10-day Ganesh festival. Lord Ganesh, also called Lord of Wisdom, Vighnaharta, Ganpati, Ekdanta, Gajanana, Bappa and other more than hundred names fondly by ardent devotees would make homes and pandals His earthly abode for the next 10 days.

Chants of Ganpati Bappa Morya reverberating across the Second Capital City of Nagpur depicted the mood of gaiety and devotion among lakhs of devotees. The devotees thronged the roadside stalls where colourfully-crafted idols of their most beloved and revered deity were arranged for sale. Puja material vendors and decoration items dealers also recorded brisk business as devotees installed the deity’s idols in their beautifully decorated homes and pandals. The zeal and fervour was to be seen to be believed. Beating of drums, dhols and tashas and chants of Ganpati Bappa Morya in pitched decibels marked processions of mandals taking their favourite deity to the pandals erected across the city under the watchful eyes of police and other security force.

A number of temples especially the Tekdi Ganesh Mandir witnessed devotees swarming from early morning for darshan, puja and aarti of the deity of good luck and prosperity. In the next ten days, the Tekdi Mandir will see devotees thronging the place in thousands non-stop for blessing of the elephant-headed God.

Each and every home was filled up the flavour of mouth-watering delicacies especially a variety of Modaks, the most loved sweet of Bappa. Laddoos, pedhas, jalebis, and other kind of sweets would be savoured by devotees as Prasad. Similarly, several popular Ganesh Mandals will see devotees lining up for darshan.

The celebrations of 10-day Ganesh Festival got off to a start under the watchful eyes of city police.

More than 5,000 police personnel along with six striking teams will guard the city. Special vehicles have been allotted to Zonal Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) and Additional CP. The cops have listed 1,600 anti-social elements who had created nuisance last year’s Ganpati Festival. These criminals would be under surveillance round the clock.


Similarly, on the issue of noise pollution of ‘DJ’ players, the cops would intensify crackdown against those who violate the noise pollution norms. The violators will be booked under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules. As per the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, the prescribed highest limit of noise levels for residential localities is 55 and 45 decibels (during the day and the night respectively), for silence zones the level is 50 and 40 decibels (day and night), respectively. For the industrial area, the permissible noise level is 75 and 70 and for commercial 65 and 55 decibels respectively.