Mumbai: Stationery as offerings, and masks as prasad at this pandal

Among the stationery items, the mandal has received dozens of notebooks. Pic/Anurag Ahire

There are many offerings to Lord Ganesh at the pandals, and most include flowers, sweets and money. But a Ganesh mandal in Goregaon has decided not to allow these offerings, instead, school stationery is being sought. The stationery will be given to students from BPL families in Goregaon. The mandal will also buy and add to the donations any particular item which falls short.

Shastri Nagar Sarvajanik Shree Ganesh Utsav Mandal in Goregaon West, is one of the oldest Ganpati mandals in the suburbs, which has been celebrating Ganeshotsav by undertaking several social initiatives.

This year the mandal decided that it will appeal to the devotees to donate stationery items like notebooks, pencils, pens and other useful things for students.
Pradip Gawde, a member of the mandal said, "Our mandal has always been of the opinion that we should do something for society. Every year we have been doing something as part of our social work. This year we appealed to the devotees coming to take blessings of Bappa, that instead of offering flowers, sweets or any expensive gifts, they should offer stationery items which we can later donate to needy students or some ashram school."

Covid-19 safety measures

The mandal allows five people for darshan every two hours after checking their temperature and if they are wearing masks. The aarti is on Facebook and their regular devotees contact them through the medium and tell them what they want to donate, and the offering is collected later from their houses.

The mandal was established in the year 1967 and this is the 55th year of their Ganesh festival. The mandal also has few sets of oxygen concentrators which will be given to the needy patients in the area. Gawde also told mid-day that they have donated 15 tonnes of food grains to needy people through the mandal.

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Interestingly, unlike other places where the devotees are given prasad, this mandal is giving masks to devotees. "While celebrating the Ganeshotsav, we are making sure that all the Covid-19 protocols are followed and we are also taking all the necessary precautions as instructed by the government. We are giving masks as prasad to the devotees and we are appealing to them to wear those. Till now we have distributed over 12,000 masks," added Gawde.

12k
No. of masks distributed till date