India’s richest Ganesha Mandal the GSB Seva Mandal at King’s Circle in Mumbai has got an insurance cover of ₹316 crore for the 5 day celebration during this year’s Chaturthi.
The mandal is also popularly known as Navsala Pavnara Viswacha Raja. The Ganesha idol here is decorated with 66+ kgs of gold ornaments, 295+ kgs of silver and other precious jewels. The first look unveiling event shall take place on August 29, 7:30 pm onwards. The Ganeshotsav is beginning from August 31 and the Ganesha Statue sits in the pandal till September 4.
This also is the only Mandal in the city where the rituals are performed round the clock. More than 20,000 people take the benefit of annadaan seva, basically the prasad bhojan. On an average around 60,000 Pooja’s and Seva’s are offered by the devotees.
This year, the mandal has taken an insurance cover of a record ₹316.40 crore and is by The New India Insurance Co. Ltd.
This ₹31.97 crore insurance covers a variety of risks that insurance on gold, silver and jewelleries.
The personal accident insurance cover for volunteers, priests, cooks, chappal stall workers, valet parking persons, security guards is worth ₹263 crore.
₹1 crore standard fire and special peril policy with earthquake risk covers items like furniture, fixtures and fittings, installations like computers, CCTV cameras, scanners, utensils, grocery, fruits and vegetables. The standard fire and special peril policy for the venue premises provides insurance of ₹77.5 lakh. Also, the Public liability, which covers pandals, stadiums, devotees etc. is secured with ₹20 crore.
The Ganesha idol is made up of clay (Shaadu Maati), grass and naturally extracted water colours which are soluble in water ensuring fishes in the sea are unharmed.
Amit Pai, Trustee and Spokesperson for the mandal said, “To save paper consumption as a part of sustainability, this year the mandal has initiated a QR Code Scan Technology for devotees.”
They have issued QR Coded seva receipts online through Email, Message link & WhatsApp to all Devotees/Sevedars who have booked seva through http://www.gsbsevamandal.org or GSB Seva Mandal App. There are QR Code Scanners at main gate entry while volunteers will guide Devotees/Sevedars for hassle-free Seva/Pooja/Dashan. For General Darshan (Mukha Darshan) QR code is not required.
In 2019, in the five days they served 1.2 lakh meals to devotees and the system will continue this year too.
During the pandemic, GSB Seva Mandal pitched in with “Santusht Anna-Dana Seva” activity by preparing & distributing food on scale basis of 1000 food packets per day. This ensures that nobody should sleep hungry while distributing atleast 60,000+ food. They even started a charitable initiative at 3 Govt hospitals in Mumbai and Thane to provide medically services if needed.
During the Tauktae Storm the mandal provided necessary household articles to the affected people in Kerala and floods in Mahad & Chiplun for their rehabilitation.
