Ganeshostav in Pune is celebrated on grand level and on the last day of this festival grand Visarjan ceremony. Across the city lakhs of devotees came to see procession. This year, Pune Metro has made travel more convenient for the citizens. According to News18 reports, more than 5 lakh 90 thousand passengers used the metro on the immersion day, while nearly 35 lakh passengers traveled by metro in the last ten days. This resulted in an income of Rs 5.28 crore for the metro administration.
Metro was kept running till late at night. This directly benefited the citizens. A large number of people going to the central area to watch the procession preferred the metro. Due to this, the traffic congestion on the roads was reduced and the citizens were able to enjoy the festival without any hassle. Last year, 3 lakh 46 thousand passengers travelled on the immersion day. However, this year, the number increased by 2 lakh 45 thousand to reach almost 6 lakh.
Currently, the metro service is available on the Vanaz-Ramwadi and Pimpri Chinchwad-Swargate routes. The recently launched District Court-Swargate route has made it more convenient for citizens to reach the central area directly. Passengers have benefited greatly from this new route. Notably, the city's Mandai and Deccan stations saw the highest congestion. 65,542 passengers were recorded traveling from Mandai station on a single day, while 64,703 passengers were recorded traveling from Deccan station. Mandai is in the heart of the city and is close to many prestigious Ganpati mandals, so the number of passengers traveling from there increased significantly. Therefore, the Metro administration made special plans for crowd control and facilities.
The Metro administration had already anticipated that the number of passengers would increase. Therefore, additional staff was deployed to handle the crowd. This provided guidance to the passengers and reduced confusion. Overall, this planning benefited both the passengers and the administration.
Judging by this year's experience, Punekars have largely preferred the Metro. The Metro has been useful in reducing the stress of travel during the festival, and the tendency of citizens is likely to increase in the coming years as well. On the day of the immersion procession, citizens avoided the chaos on the roads and turned to modern transport facilities like the Metro, making the festival more enjoyable and enjoyable.