Despite awareness drives against the use of live snakes for worship in the festival, snakes were found in Hadapsar, Aundh, Deccan, Khadki and talukas in the neighbourhood.

Worrisome figures
Members of the Wild Animals and Snake Protection Society (WASPS), who rescued around 60 snakes, said the number of snakes rescued this year was two times the previous year’s figure. Different snakes, including cobras, trinket snakes, rat snakes, checkered keelback and even the green vine snake, were rescued in just a single day from snake charmers and collectors who were displaying the reptiles in public and offering them to people for worshipping for a fee.