Ganesh Chaturthi a low-key affair in Dharwad

Dharwad: The usual hustle and bustle, processions, music, dance and bursting of crackers were missing as the city celebrated Ganesha Chaturthi on Saturday.
Thanks to restrictions on public celebration of the festival due to Covid-19 pandemic, people preferred to stay at home and celebrate the festival with family members and limited number of relatives.
Nearly 90% of Ganesh Mandals had decided not to install idols this time, and, as a result the important junctions in the city which used to witness people queuing up to have darshan of Lord Ganesha wore a deserted look.
Businessmen in the Super Market, who used to install a large sized idol in a big pandal, chose to install the idol in a lorry. They performed pooja and instead of keeping the idol for seven days made it a one-day affair and immersed the idol in the evening. Uday Yandigeri, a member of the Mandal said the situation had forced them cut down on expenditure and fanfare.
Thanks to continuous campaign launched by various government and non-government agencies against the use of idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP), people preferred to buy idols made of clay.
Veer Savarkar Geleyara Balaga of Malamaddi, which used to install the idol for three days and take it out for immersion in a grand procession involving cultural troupes and women drummers from Maharashtra, celebrated the festival in a simple way. They performed Gana homa and immersed the idol in the evening in a make-shift well.
Vidyagiri police sub-inspector ST Dasaraddi, RSS leader Shridhar Nadgir and others offered pooja.