Pune’s Ganesh Visarjan 2026 procession drew lakhs of devotees onto Laxmi Road, Tilak Road and the approaches to Alka Chowk on Friday, combining large mandal processions, dhol-tasha performances and severe crowding at one of the city’s most important public gathering points.
The procession continued into the night as devotees accompanied idols towards immersion points across the city. For many residents, the event remained a deeply established part of Pune’s civic and cultural identity, but accounts from the ground also pointed to persistent problems with crowd control, movement through bottlenecks and enforcement of noise restrictions.
Nilesh Desai, a 29-year-old IT professional who moved to Pune from Satara around a decade ago, said he took a day off to attend the immersion procession. He described walking behind dhol-tasha groups until about 1 am, saying the disruption caused by the procession felt different from the traffic congestion residents experience on ordinary days.
The experience was less positive for some visitors to Alka Chowk. Madhuri Netake, a resident of Karve Nagar, said she and her friends reached the area to watch major mandal idols, but left after about 20 minutes because of the crowd. She said the crowd-control arrangements were inadequate when the Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati procession arrived.
According to Netake, the rush became so intense that she and others were lifted off their feet. She also said she and her friend became separated in the crowd and that there was little room to move either forward or backwards. She described the bottleneck near Alka Chowk as a recurring problem, particularly for women in the crowd, and said residents had expected better barricading this year.
Noise control was another concern raised by residents. Varsha Jadhav, a homemaker from Wakad, said Bapat’s call for a ban on DJs and restrictions on noise pollution appeared to have been followed at some locations along the procession route. However, she said multiple DJs were still installed and that some sound systems remained excessively loud, particularly on the main procession road.
The accounts underline the administrative challenge of managing an event that occupies major roads, attracts large crowds and involves numerous mandals moving through the historic core. Akshay Killedar, a civil services aspirant from Shukrawar Peth, said Pune’s festival tradition had grown through generations of residents participating in dhol groups, idol-making and fundraising, while the city’s traffic and civic planning had struggled to keep pace with that growth.
The procession also featured Vetra Charma, a traditional martial art performed with a bamboo stick and a compact leather shield. Chinmay Pandhari of the Shriram Vetra Charma Pathak said the practice dates back to the era of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and resembles Kalaripayattu, an Indian martial art associated with Kerala.
The final processions continued towards the immersion points after the main crowds gathered around the central routes, with the city retaining its annual festival tradition alongside unresolved questions over crowd movement, barricading and noise enforcement.
