The Maharasthra Tourism Development Centre (MTDC) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have teamed up to make special arrangements for international tourists who want to experience the city’s Ganesh Utsav in a bid to position the festival on a global platform.
Ganesh Chaturthi has been publicly celebrated in Pune since the era of Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire (1630–1680). After the start of the British Raj, the Ganesha festival lost state patronage and became a private family celebration in Maharashtra until its revival by Indian freedom fighter and social reformer Lokmanya Tilak.
The festival, along with processions, was already in vogue as a public and a private celebration in Mumbai (then called Bombay) in 1885. It became a public event later, in 1892 when Bhausaheb Laxman Javale ( also known as Bhau Rangari), installed the first sarvajanik (public) Ganesha idol in Pune. In 1893, Tilak praised the celebration of sarvajanik Ganesha Utsav in his newspaper, Kesari, and dedicated his efforts to launch the annual domestic festival into a mass public event.