Ganesh pandals focus on farmer welfare and water conservation

MUMBAI: Ganpati pandals often seem to be the conscience keepers of society given that they focus on topical causes apart from entertainment. This year the plight of farmers in drought-affected regions of the state is a recurrent theme in several prominent pandals.
Tejukaya Compound in Lalbaug has repeatedly shed light on farmers’ suicides in previous seasons, and is doing so in this, its golden jubilee year, as well.
Another mandal whose head and heart is in the right place is the 65-year-old Sewricha Raja that sits in Prabodhankar Thackeray maidan. Its chief, Vijay Indulkar, says, “Last year during Ganeshotsav we collected a sum of Rs 1.25 lakh for the families of drought-stricken farmers and personally went to Aurangabad to distribute the money. It was there that we actually saw how they ration small quantities of water which we in the city take for granted.”
As a result, this year the 12-ft tall Sewricha Raja invites visitors to a pandal designed around water conservation. “We have prepared an eight-minute audio visual listing the ways in which we can save water, from providing household tips to encouraging rainwater harvesting. We are highlighting the government's Jalyukt Shivar scheme and the work done by Magsaysay award winner Rajendra Singh,” says Indulkar.
Right beside Marine Lines railway station, the Akhil Chandanwadi Ganeshotsav believes the answer to Vidarbha farmers’ woes does not lay in creating a separate state. “We are stressing the importance of Akhand (unified) Maharashtra in the face of the agitation for a separate Vidarbha. Can we forget the 105 martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the Sanyukta Maharashtra movement? Look at the condition of the states that broke away from the Soviet Union, they queue up for hours to buy bread.” The 24-ft idol of Chandanwadi has been crafted atop Lord Vishnu’s Varaha (tortoise) avatar.
At the Chheda Nagar mandap in Chembur, meanwhile, the trustees will prominently display the receipt for Rs 1 lakh that they donated to the Naam Foundation for farmers’ welfare. “Our members individually contributed around Rs 30,000 as well. This year also, we will make a contribution to a social cause, though we are yet to finalise what that will be,” says spokesman Sujit Jambhule.