Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases across the country have reduced significantly and people have been taking the suggested COVID vaccines to stay safe amidst the pandemic. Observing the drop in cases, the government has also permitted relaxations due to which activities have resumed in India.
Citizens have started travelling during the holidays in the festive season reports state that the recent Ganeshotsav festival witnessed a large number of passengers at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA).
A report regarding the same was published in the Indian Express.
As the travel restrictions were eased, Mumbai airport witnessed many passengers between September 5 and 19, 2021. A report released by CSMIA showed that over 7.3 lakh passengers travelled in a span of 10 days this year, and the passenger count has been increasing.
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Experts have revealed that the traffic has increased four-fold with over 3.68 lakh arrivals and more than 3.61 lakh departures recorded in approximately 5,783 flights which operated during the 10-day festival. Of these, most people travelled to Delhi, Bangalore, and Goa. IndiGo had the most passengers from CSMIA followed by Vistara and Air India with over 4 lakh, 93000 and 83000 passengers respectively.
Moreover, this is a significant rise in the figure in comparison to 15 days in 2020, i.e., between August 16 and September 1, 2020, where the airport reported only 2.5 lakh passengers. This is mostly due to the COVID lockdown imposed in the country due to the pandemic, where the flight services were not allowed in many parts of the country.
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Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had also imposed strict norms observing the crowd in the city during the 10-day festival. Guidelines were issued by the civic body and the state government for the festivities and keeping the third wave predictions in mind, CM Uddhav Thackeray had asked the citizens to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi in a simple manner, similar to the festivities in 2020. Associations were banned from public celebrations and were allowed only four feet tall idols, while the domestic celebrations were allowed idols which were no more than two feet tall. Sec 144 was imposed during the visarjan to ensure no crowding, however, despite the directives, a large number of people gathered during the visarjan, especially on the second day.
On the other hand, Mumbai’s Awaaz Foundation stated that the city recorded reduced noise levels this year during the visarjan and the figures were the lowest recorded in the last 18 years.
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