A Ganpati mandal (group organising public festival) in Bhiwandi in Maharashtra’s Thane district on Sunday said it would not be participating in one of the state’s most patronised festivals this year because of price rise and dearth of donations.

In a letter to police, the Dream Complex Ganesh Utsav Mandal in Kongaon said it was not celebrating the festival because of the difficulty in getting donations and soaring costs of essential items.

The 10-day festival will start on August 31 and it will be celebrated without Covid-induced restrictions after two years.

The festivities were muted statewide in 2020 and 2021 because of pandemic norms such as cap on visitor numbers, enforcing of Covid-appropriate behaviour and compulsory scaling down of idols and pandals (arenas).