Ganesh mandal Andhericha Raja wants devotees to donate only in gold!

Updated on: 24 August,2014 07:02 AM IST |
Chetna Sadadekar | chetna.sadadekar@mid-day.com

The mandal, which banned devotees wearing short dresses in 2012, now wants donations only in gold for their 2015 golden jubilee celebrations

Poonam Pandey

Since 2012, this mandal banned devotees wearing short dresses from entering their mandal. Now, members of the Azad Nagar Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal, popularly known as Andhericha Raja, will urge devotees to donate only gold so they can build a gold headgear for the idol next year, to mark their golden jubilee.

Model Poonam Pandey at the Andheri Mandal in 2011

As the city’s 11,000 ganesh mandals prepare for the festival, the Andheri mandal is focussed on its 2015 preparations. The Andheri mandal will soon put up banners to seek donations in gold, and is rather confident that they will collect enough over this year’s 11-day festival itself.

In 2012, the mandal banned devotees in short dresses from seeking the idol’s blessings. Sources in the mandal recalled that the organisers implemented the ban after model Poonam Pandey visited the venue in a pair of shorts in 2011.

Strangely, Uday Salian, the mandal’s spokesperson, said he believes devotees will respond because “their ban on devotees dressed in short skirts went down well with people”. “Our ban of short clothes went down well with people, and we got a good response. So, we expect that devotees will also contribute to bappa’s gold mukut,” said Salian.