mumbai mumbaikars who were eager to celebrate ganeshotsav in their hometowns in the konkan are disheartened as they have had to shelve travel plans amid the covid19 pandemicmany families have had to abandon their trips owing to multiple reasons like a 10day quarantine period delay in announcement of train schedules and heavy expenditure on travel and prolonged stay most of all gram panchayats in konkan are not keen on welcoming visitors from mumbai since the city has been a covid hotspotthe sawant family of poonam nagar andheri e has been celebrating ganeshotsav at their 120yearold ancestral house in village nagve sindhudurg with relatives since decades however this year the family was forced to skip the planswati sawant 55 said the family of eight had decided to reach their native place a few days before ganeshotsav to make arrangements but tourist taxi operators were charging exorbitant fares plus at that time we needed to obtain epasses to go to other districts observe a 10day quarantine period and get covid tests done after reaching the village the prospect of the entire trip became an extravagant affair and the announcement about train travel was made late so we could not avail of it we chose to stay put in mumbaistill the sawants are grateful for the fact that a neighbouring family has agreed to perform the traditional puja on their behalf in their ancestral house our neighbour will install a small idol inside our home perform puja and aarti for oneanda half days while we will watch over a video call this way we can seek bappas blessings sawant saiddadarbased sangram petkar his mother wife daughter and 40 other relatives have been visiting gavkhadi in ratnagiri district each ganeshotsav since 15 years but 2020 is different he cancelled his travel plans after villagers insisted they avoid coming such fear and anxiety is highly unusual towards visitors especially ganesh devotees so we decided to respect their views moreover travel also meant risking the health of my mother who is a senior citizen said petkar the family will offer prayers online