KOLHAPUR: As citizens throng the Ganesh pandals for ‘darshan’, Covid safety norms go for a toss in Kolhapur city. After the immersion of household Ganesh idols, more citizens have started visiting Ganesh pandals.
Clicking selfies without masks and not following social distancing were common concerns across all the pandals in the city. Few pandals in the city have made sanitisation arrangements. In most of the places, the pandal members were also seen without masks.
Nitin Patil, a member of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Chowk Tarun Mandal said, “We are providing sanitisers for every individual visiting the pandal and are also asking them to use mask. People tend to go for darshan and click selfies by removing masks. We are trying our best to carry out social distancing in the pandal, but people rush out and click pictures. Many people are visiting the pandal without masks and we have to ask them to use at least their handkerchief as a mask.”
Nilesh Chougule, a member of Swami Samarth group in Shivaji Peth area, said, “We can't force people to wear masks. People are fed up with all these measures and so most of the people are seen coming for Ganesh darshan without masks. We have kept a sanitiser stand in our pandal for visitors.”
