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This is an archive article published on June 22, 2014

Warkari wave sweeps Pune city, Pimpri-Chinchwad

This was the first time citizens could have a glimpse of the palkhi chariot from Nashik Phata flyover opened four months back.

The palkhi of Sant Dyaneshwar on the Sangamwadi Bridge. (Source: Express Photo by Sandeep Daundkar) The palkhi of Sant Dyaneshwar on the Sangamwadi Bridge. (Source: Express Photo by Sandeep Daundkar)

Pune city and the industrial town of Pimpri-Chinchwad were caught in a warkari wave with lakhs embarking on the three-week pilgrimage that will continue till Ashadi Ekadashi. As has been the tradition the annual palkhi processions of Sant Dnyaneshwar and Saint Tukaram were welcomed in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune city, amid chants of bhajan and sounds of traditional music instruments.

Both processions entered Pune through separate routes and by evening, streets in Shivajinagar and Peth areas were filled with lakhs of warkaris. They had descended on temple town Dehu and Alandi from various parts of Maharashtra and a few other states.

Divided into several “dindis” (groups), some carried idols of Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram on their heads, while a few others carried “tulsi” pots. Several warkaris swayed holding saffron flags. The old, the infirm, men and women walked hand in hand to honour their commitment to the tradition of “wari.”

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The warkaris will halt in Pune for 36 hours and proceed towards Pandhapur.

Narhari Chavan, an 83-year old devotee from Nashik district, said, “This is my consecutive 12th year of participation in the wari. I am more than happy to achieve this feat. I was bit skeptical about joining this year considering my old age, but eventually decided to take part.”

Mahesh Jadhav, a class VII student form Parli taluka in Beed district was taking part in the procession for the first time. “I am very excited to travel on foot to Pandhapur. Hope I will have lot of fun and learning,” said Mahesh, who is accompanied by his family.

In Pimpri-Chinchwad, amidst the tree-lined Pune-Mumbai highway, the palkhi arrival provided a spectacular view from Nashik Phata flyover. Motorists stopped on the flyover for a bird’s eye view of Sant Tukaram palkhi as it headed towards Pune city. This was the first time citizens could have a glimpse of the palkhi chariot from Nashik Phata flyover opened four months back.

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The Sant Tukaram palkhi arrived from temple town of Dehu in Pimpri-Chinchwad on Friday. Thousands of warkaris accompanied it. The palkhi made an overnight halt at Akurdi temple. Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner Rajiv Jadhav and Mayor Mohini Lande were among those who welcomed the palkhi. Around 4 am on Saturday, PCMC chief and Akurdi temple trustee Gopalrao Kute performed “aarti” of the palkhi before it left the temple. The palkhi headed towards Pune city between halts at Kalbhornagar, Chinchwad station, Pimpri chowk, Kharalwadi, Vallabhnagar, Kasarwadi, Phugewadi and Dapodi where lunch was served to warkaris.

The palkhi had earlier halted at HA Colony where warkaris had breakfast. Along the highways, activists, families and members of social and voluntary organisations waited to provide food, biscuits, fruits and water to warkaris. At Pimpri chowk and Nashik Phata chowk, activists and citizens had come from across Pimpri-Chinchwad and neighbouring areas to serve warkaris.

Like every year, B J Bhatia had come along with family, friends and nearly 120 kilo “pohas” in a tempo. “For the past seven years, we have been serving pohas to warkaris,” said Bhatai as his group took care of breakfast of hundreds of warkaris. Maruti Owhal, a local resident, had brought boxes of mineral water bottles in a tempo for warkaris. “It gives me a sense of satisfaction,” he said.

Vilas Kunjir and his wife of Pimple Saudagar distributed 5000 bananas. Similarly, Shwetal Balika was seen distributing 40 kg ladoo.

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Women’s activists Anita Landge and Padma Kaskar and others joined the procession at Pimpri and walked till Phugewadi. “We left for Pimpri early morning and waited for the palkhi at Pimpri chowk before walking along,” said Landge. “I am going to walk to Pandharpur…I did this last year. I am going with the wari to Pandharpur,” said Landge.

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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