Ganesh Chaturthi 2024: Lalbaugcha Raja Ganeshotsav receives more than ₹48 lakh in donations on Day 1

On the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi 2024, Mumbai's famous Lalbaugcha Raja Ganeshotsav received donations worth ₹48.30 lakh on the first day of the Ganesh festival, reported the news agency ANI on Sunday, September 8, quoting the counting numbers from the Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal.

“The donation amounted to Rs. 48 lakh 30 thousand,” according to Mangesh Dattaram Dalvi, treasurer at Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal, quoted in the social media platform of the news agency.

The news agency shared a video of people helping out in counting donations on its social media post on platform X. The people are members of the Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal, where the donation was counted, as per the report.

The video also shows how the volunteers or the counting team counted coins and notes bestowed in the diety's name. They were taking the notes off from the garlands made from money and adding to the stockpile of the currency denominations.

The counting process was streamlined so that it could be completed more efficiently, with different stations in charge of different work. As the video shows, there was a station for separating the notes from the garlands and collecting them into bundles, and then there was a counting station, which dealt with the actual counting part, and it was equipped with note-counting machines.

The video also showed that donations were made in foreign currencies, like the US dollar, Singaporean dollar, Australian dollar, etc., which were accumulated in a separate pile. At the end there is seen to be a computerised system which helps the people counting the money enter and make a record of it digitally, according to the news agency's posted video.

Bollywood superstars did not skip out on attending the famous Ganeshotsav. Celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Kartik Aaryan, Vicky Kaushal, Varun Dhawan, Niel Nitin Mukesh and Boman Irani showed up to see the Lalbaugcha Raja Ganeshotsav on Saturday, September 7.