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When will the immersion processions start? Where to catch a glimpse of the revered Manache Ganpatis? What route to take to reach the immersion ghat? What are the closest Pune Metro stations? And, of all things, where to park the vehicles? — If you are struggling with these questions, here’s an end to it.
As the city gears up for the Anant Chaturdashi celebration on Thursday, here’s a guide for devotees to participate in the immersion processions.
One of key attractions of Pune’s Ganesh festival are the five Manache Ganpatis or the five most revered Ganesh Mandals, which also hold immense historic significance.
The Five Manache Ganpati are Shri Kasba Ganpati Mandal, Tambdi Jogeshwari Mandal, Guruji Talim Mandal, Tulshibaug Mandal and Kesri Wada Mandal, in the given order.
Thus, the main immersion process of Pune’s Ganesh festival starts with Shri Kasba Ganpati Mandal and the four other Manache Ganpatis follow it. The schedule for Shri Kasba Ganpati Mandal this year is as follows:
10.30 am: Main procession begins from Tilak Statue near Mandai
11.15 am: Procession reaches Belbag Chowk
12.15 pm: Procession reaches Limbaraj Maharaj Chowk
12.45 pm: Procession reaches Kunte Chowk
1.25 pm: Procession reaches Umbarya Ganpati Chowk
1.50 pm: Procession reaches Bhanuvilas Chowk
2.25 pm: Procession reaches Vijay Talkies Chowk
2.50 pm: Procession reaches Garud Ganpati Chowk
3.30 pm: Procession reaches Tilak Chowk. After which the immersion rituals begin.
While the five Manache Ganpatis are of both ceremonial and historic importance, five prominent mandals — Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganesh Mandal, Akhil Mandai Mandal, Shrimant Bhausaheb Rangari Ganpati Mandal, Hutatma Babu Genu Mandal and Shri Jilbya Maruti Mandal Trust — attract huge crowds and generally immerse their idols towards the end of the procession.
This year, four of these mandals, except the Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganesh Mandal announced Monday that they will commence their immersion processions in the evening on Anant Chaturdashi after 6 pm on September 28 “to honour the sentiments of the volunteers and devotees”.
The announcement comes days after the Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganesh Mandal announced they will start their procession at 4 pm, with an aim to conclude the procession early. The processions of prominent Ganapatis generally conclude past midnight. These timings have varied every year, depending on the crowd, weather conditions and coordination with the police.
Considering the huge footfall of people coming to visit these areas and also due to road closures, it will not be possible for visitors to reach these spots on vehicles. They will have to park their vehicles at the designated parking bays and then walk to these spots or roads.
1) On the procession route of Manache Ganpati: Belbag Chowk, Kunte Chowk, Vijay Talkies Chowk, Garud Ganpati Chowk, Tilak Chowk.
2) Kakasaheb Gadgil Chowk on Shivaji Road.
3) Sant Kabir Chowky on Laxmi Road
4) Visitors can also take a walk along Laxmi Road, Bajirao Road, Kumthekar Road, Kelkar Road and Tilak Road to get a glimpse of the processions of hundreds of Ganesh Mandals.
Shivaji Road and Laxmi Road will remain closed from 7 am on Thursday. Tilak Road, Bagade Road, Guru Nanak Road will be closed for traffic from 9 am and Ganesh Road and Kelkar Road from 10 am. Bajirao Road, Shastri Road and Kumthekar Road from 12 pm. The arterial roads, including Jangli Maharaj Road, Karve Road, Fergusson College Road, Bhandarkar Road, Pune-Satara Road, Solapur Road and Prabhat Road, will remain closed for traffic from 4 pm onwards.
The points on important roads, from where the traffic will be diverted, are Balgandharva Chowk for Jangli Maharaj Road, Good Luck Chowk for Fergusson College Road, Gadgil statue for Shivaji Road, Volga Square for Satara Road, Savarkar Statue for Bajirao Road and Nal Stop for Karve Road.
On the day of the visarjan, a Ring Road connecting the diverted routes will be earmarked for smooth passage of the traffic even at the time when the processions are on.
A temporary Ring Road for traffic will be formed by connecting the patches of Karve Road, Senapati Bapat Road, Ganeshkhind Road, Ambedkar Road, Nehru Road, Shivneri Road, Satara Road, Sinhagad Road and Shastri Road.
For the Ganesh Festival, the Pune Metro has extended the service timings. While the services halt at 10 pm on regular days, on Thursday the services will be extended till 2 am the next morning.
The most conveniently located Metro stations for those wishing to witness the immersion procession are Deccan Gymkhana and Garware College (from where Alaka Theatre chowk, where most action happens, is the closest) and Civil Court from where Ganesh pandals located in the heart of the old city are at a walking distance.
At present, the service is running at an interval of 10 minutes on the PCMC to Civil Court route and 15 minutes on the Vanaz to Ruby Hall Clinic route, depending on the rush hour.
Additional parking spaces have been created at H V Desai College in Shaniwar Peth, Pulachi Wadi on the river bank, Daruwala Bridge to Khadiche Maidan on Ganesh Road, Congress Bhavan on the PMC Road and Hamalwada Parking in Narayan Peth.
Following are the designated parking areas where citizens can park their vehicles before venturing out on foot to witness the immersion procession.
1. New English School, Ramanbag
2. Shivaji Akhada Parking Lot
3. Hamalwada
4. Gogate Prashala
5. Desai College
6. SP College, Tilak Road
7. Various Earmarked Parking Bays along what Mutha river bank
8. Shivaji Marathi Shala
9. Natubag
10. Peshwee Park Sarasbaug
11. PMPML Maidanpuram Chowk
12. In front of Harjeevan Hospital, Savarkar Chowk
13. Patil Plaza Parking
14. Mitramandal Sabhagruha
15. Parvati to Dandekar Bridge
16. Dandekar Bridge to Ganesh Mala
17. Ganesh Mala to Rajaram Bridge
18. Nilayam Talkies
19. Vimalabai Garware Highschool
20. Abasaheb Garware College
21. Sanjeevani Medical College Ground
22. Apte Prashala
23. Fergusson College
24. Jain Hostel BMCC Road
25. Marathwada Mitra Mandal College
26. SSPMS College
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has urged citizens to use its mobile phone app PMC CARE to find information on the Ganesh festival and immersion day preparations.
Citizens can find places of immersion nearest to their location along with the facility of idol donation centres, Ganesh mandals, parking places and other information.
There will be a map that can be clicked for location that will show the directions to reach destinations. For this, the citizens will have to download the PMC CARE mobile application on their phone from Google Play Store.
The Pune city traffic police have launched an online Ganesh Festival Guide called ‘Sarathi’ which provides visitors with one click information of the main Ganesh mandals, parking areas, traffic route changes and road closures during the Ganesh festival.
Sarathi is a one click guide for the Ganesh festival for visitors. The link and QR code of the guide has been made available through social media platforms and is also being displayed at parking bays, bus and railway stations, important traffic junctions, main Ganesh mandals and banners at various places.
Visitors can also contact the Police Control Room: 100 and 112; Fire Brigade: 101 and 020-26451707; Traffic Control: 020-26684000 and 020-26685000, and Pune Police Dedicated helpline for women: 1091 in case of emergencies.
