Mandals seek multi-crore insurance cover

Like last year,the mandal with the largest insurance cover has arranged for visarjan on the fifth day of the festival. Most other mandals opt for visarjan on the 11th day. “The mandal members include businessmen and hoteliers. The cover is huge because of the number of devotees involved. It takes care of damages during processions,” said Girish Walawalkar,secretary of the Ganesh mandal committee.

GSB Seva mandal has made an 18-foot eco-friendly Ganesha that will be adorned with gold and silver.

A spokesperson from Lalbaugcha Raja mandal said,“We have decided who to award our account to. We were busy with dahi handi on Thursday. We will be finalising the bidder on Friday.”

Ganesh Galli’s Mumbaicha Raja,which had a cover of Rs 5 crore last year,is likely to settle for the same amount. The account is likely to be bagged by New India Assurance or Oriental Insurance Company,said Swapnil Parab,secretary of Mumbaicha Raja.

Like last year,Khetwadicha Ganraj will not to go for insurance this year,too. The mandal has developed a first-of-its-kind app that will offer darshan for android phone users. The free app — ‘Khetwadi Ganraj’ — will be launched on September 8. “It is for the benefit of old people who are unable to attend visarjan. All proceedings will be streamed live,” said Ganesh Mathur,vice-secretary of Khetwadicha Ganraj mandal.

abdullah.nurullah@expressindia.com