Ganpati festival: Prabhadevi residents fear access issues amid Siddhivinayak crowd measures

Residents stage a protest

The upcoming Ganpati festival has residents around Siddhivinayak Temple in Prabhadevi worried that crowd-management measures could make it difficult for them to access their homes.

The temple's front entrance, facing the petrol pump, is expected to remain temporarily shut during renovation work, which is likely to take about two years. Devotees are expected to be directed towards the rear entrance near the ground.

Residents fear queues and increased footfall could spill into nearby residential lanes, with some society gates potentially being kept shut during peak hours.

Construction material is stored near Siddhivinayak Temple. Pic/Ritika Gondhalekar

They say this could affect residents, senior citizens, children, domestic workers, delivery staff and emergency vehicles.

What residents are worried about

Temple renovation
Front gate near the petrol pump expected to remain shut.

Devotee movement
Crowds likely to be directed towards the rear/ground-side entrance.

Residents protest against the proposed crowd-management and renovation arrangements near Siddhivinayak Temple. Pic/By Special Arrangement

Residential access
Nearby society gates could be affected by queues and crowd movement.

Emergency access
Residents fear ambulances, fire engines, cabs and other vehicles could face difficulty entering.

Temple trust: ‘There will be some inconvenience'

The Siddhivinayak Temple entrance on the petrol-pump side, where renovation work is expected to affect access. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Pawan Tripathi, treasurer, Siddhivinayak Trust
‘Though the temple is going to benefit from the renovation works, the project is of BMC. The area where renovation works will be done is under the BMC. For us all are important. But residents who live here need to accept the fact that there will be some inconvenience. We have told the authorities to look for a midway'

Local authority flags another concern

The road leading to Siddhivinayak Temple's rear entrance, where barricades are expected to be installed for crowd management

Yashwant Killedar, local corporator
‘There is a school on the ground side gate. Also, the flower vendors on the petrol pump side will also have to face the brunt as no devotees will be going from there. Also, the blueprint that was shown, according to that, the temple's petrol side entrance can be kept partially open'

Residents Speak

The front gate of Siddhivinayak Temple, which devotees are expected to be diverted away from

Rupesh Narwekar, resident
‘We understand that the temple needs to make arrangements for the renovation works and we have no objection to devotees coming for darshan. But if our main gate is kept shut or is blocked, how are senior citizens, children and people carrying groceries supposed to enter? We cannot be expected to take a long detour every time we have to come home'

Raj Narwekar, resident
‘Our society gate is used by residents throughout the day. If it is blocked because of the queues, even cabs and autos will not be able to come inside. For people returning from work, this will become a daily nightmare. God forbid, what if there is an emergency like a fire accident or someone needing to be shifted to hospital in an ambulance? How will these emergency services reach us?'

Manisha Joshi, resident
‘One gate of our building is on the petrol pump side where the temple has its main gate no. 1. Unfortunately, the other society gate is in the lane behind where the temple has its second main gate. Now using the petrol pump side gate will be difficult as continuously big vehicles carrying renovation materials will ply, and considering that all devotees will be diverted to the ground-side gate, it will also block our other gate. What are we supposed to do?'