Making it clear that Ganesha Chaturti festivities will have to be celebrated in a simple manner in the wake of COVID-19, the State government has advised authorities concerned to encourage people to confine the number of public celebrations to only one per ward or village.
The government is trying to convince people about the need for preventing installation of multiple idols in a ward or village to prevent crowds as part of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
As part of such precautions, the government has also banned any procession while bringing the Ganesha statue for installing or during the immersion process.
The State government which has come out with revised guidelines on celebrations of Ganesha Chaturti has made it mandatory to get permission from local authorities concerned before embarking upon public celebrations of Ganesha festivities.
Those installing Ganesha idol in public places have been told to ensure that not more than 20 persons congregate at a time by restricting the space around the statue.
Similarly, all the entertainment programmes that used to be part of the Ganesha festivities including music and dance have been banned.
It has also prescribed that the height of the Ganesha idol should not cross four feet for public celebrations and two feet in private celebrations confined to homes.
While it is mandatory for those installing the statue within their houses to immerse the statue in their premises, those taking up public celebrations are supposed to find the nearest ponds/mobile tanks that have been designated or set up by the authorities for immersion of idols.
The guidelines have been issued by Chief Secretary T. M. Vijay Bhaskar on Monday in tune with the central guidelines.
