This is an archive article published on June 29, 2020
Pune: Timing, route of ‘paduka procession’ by buses to remain under wraps
Meanwhile, amid the pandemic, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) will lose revenue of about Rs 1 crore it usually earns by operating special buses to Pandharpur from Pune and nearby areas.
As for special arrangements inside the bus for keeping the padukas, Naval Kishore Ram said they have left it to the Dehu and Alandi sansthans. (File)
The Pune district administration has decided to keep the route and timing of “paduka procession” of Sant Dnyaneshwar and Sant Tukaram under wraps in a bid to avoid crowding near the buses in which they will be carried to Pandhapur.
The holy “padukas” of the two saints will be taken by state transport buses on June 30, a day before the Ashadki Ekadashi. District Collector Naval Kishore Ram told this paper on Sunday that they have decided to keep the route and timing of the “paduka procession” a secret. “This is because we don’t want people to come to know about the route the buses will take. Neither do we want people to know the timing when the buses will start from Dehu and Alandi. Since it is an issue of faith, it will be difficult to control the faithful from crowding or trying to halt the buses en route…,” he said, adding that the decision to carry the padukas by buses was finalised four-five days back.
He said, “We wanted to take them by a chopper but one of the key factors considered for this was the weather. Since it is monsoon, if the weather is not clear, there will be a delay in reaching Pandharpur. Secondly, in a chopper the seating capacity is less whereas a bus can accommodate 20 warkaris which is what we have decided.”
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As for special arrangements inside the bus for keeping the padukas, Ram said they have left it to the Dehu and Alandi sansthans.
Meanwhile, Manik More of Dehu sansthan said, “On June 30, when we carry the holy padukas to Pandharpur, four ‘abhang aartis’ will be held en route. The ‘aartis’ will be of a minute duration and will be performed by stopping buses at spots where no one is present. Besides, the warkaris will be allowed to get down from the bus. We will carry meals with us.”
He added, “There will be 20 warkaris inside the bus. Two will be looking after the padukas… We will strictly follow government guidelines and social distancing norms.”
Meanwhile, amid the pandemic, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) will lose revenue of about Rs 1 crore it usually earns by operating special buses to Pandharpur from Pune and nearby areas. As per officials, the MSRTC operates an average of about 1,500 special buses to Pandharpur during the annual pilgrimage.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
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