Pune: Devotees are thronging pandals in the city and the crowd shows few signs of thinning even after midnight. A video from Laxmi Road, trending online, shows a sea of people making their way to Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati pandal and other sites for darshan late at night.It was once considered easier to visit temples and mandals in the early hours. Today, the footfall is heavy well past midnight into dawn. Families and groups from across the city choose late-night slots to avoid the daytime rush, only to find themselves caught in a nocturnal cascade of queues.In the peth areas, IT and BPO employees form a significant share of the crowd at night, arriving in groups after their shifts end. Members of the Manache Ganapati mandals said the phenomenon has grown steadily in recent years, but this year, the scale is higher, with traffic management and crowd control required even late at night. Citizens who ventured out after dark described the experience as exhilarating but exhausting.“We left Hadapsar around 1.30am, thinking we would get a peaceful darshan. However, it took us almost an hour to cross the stretch near Dagdusheth on foot,” said Pranali Deshmukh, who came with her parents for the darshan.For some, the night brought a sense of freedom, while for others, the crowds left them feeling uneasy.“I work in Kharadi and finish it at 2.15am, so the only time I can come with my colleagues is late at night. The streets were packed, but it felt festive rather than chaotic,” said Rohit Jadhav, who was part of a group of ten.“I brought my children along because I thought it would be calmer at night. Instead, it was just as busy, and I was worried about them getting lost,” said Shubhangi Patil from Bibvewadi.Some visitors came from afar to avoid the daytime traffic gridlock. “We drove from Pimpri after dinner and reached the old city around midnight. It was crowded, but the traffic on the road was manageable compared to the daytime,” said Nitin Shinde.Despite the rush, devotees said thelate-night surge was part of the spirit of the festival. “Ganeshotsav has always been about the city coming alive. Whether it is noon or 3am, you feel the same devotion everywhere,” said Ajit Kulkarni from Katraj, who visits the Manache Ganapati during Ganeshotsav every year.Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said, “We have deployed over 3,000 personnel on bandobast. Our teams are monitoring criminals, crowded places, and Metro stations. We have demarked the entry and exits of four Metro stations — Kasba, Mandai, District Court, and Swargate. Many people are using the Metro to visit pandals. We are also using CCTV cameras, watch towers, and drone cameras to keep a watch on the crowd. We have already taken precautionary measures to avert stampede-like situations during the festival.”(With inputs from Gitesh Shelke)
