Devotees take over road around Lalbaugcha Raja

Now in its 76th year,Lalbaugcha Raja attracts devotees not only from the city but from across the state and is said to fulfil wishes,or navas. It is also one of the landmarks of a slowly vanishing culture around a textile hub of what was known as Girangaon,or the land of the mills,as the Lalbaug-Parel areas were once known .

Till now,some 20 lakh devotees have taken a darshan and the serpentine queues on the last two days had reached Byculla and Parel. Some devotees stood for 16 hours in the navsachi queue for those making wishes at the feet of the idol.

The Ganesh Galli Ganpati,a stone’s throw from the Lalbaugcha Raja,also attracts devotees in large numbers. In the absence of the flyover demolished in May,the traffic problem has aggravated this year.

“The queue has reached the Wadia estate area on G D Ambedkar Road. The devotees block the road completely and this has resulted in traffic chaos.” said G D Poman,senior police inspector of Kalachowkie. “The crowd is expected to grow on the last two days,” said Sunil Joshi from the Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal.

“It’s a mess here but we accept this,” says Sunil Surve of Labuag,whose home is near the mandal,the footpath barricaded.

A few were still struggling to find a way to take a darshan and also escape the queue. “We are trying to meet both objectives,” said Pramod Wakchowre of Tardeo.