Mumbai civic body gives nod to 1,389 Ganesh pandals

Further, like last year the BMC has capped the height of Ganesh idols to four-feet in case of mandala and two feet for home

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has received over 2,200 applications for setting up Ganesh Pandals in the city, of which it has approved 1,389 applications. This year the permissions are expected to be above the 1,700 applications approved last year. Every year, before the outbreak of Covid-19, the BMC received around 3,000 applications, however the number went gone down since the past two years due to the pandemic.

Devotees carry an idol of Lord Ganesha from a workshop to a pandal at Kandivli. (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

According to the data, until Friday, the BMC has received 2,216 applications for approval of which it has approved 1,386 applications, 228 applications were rejected, and 601 applications are under process. The highest number of applications have been received from Andheri East, Dadar, Parel and other areas around Grant Road.

Further, like last year the BMC has capped the height of Ganesh idols to four-feet in case of mandala and two feet for home. No procession will be allowed during visarjan and mandals will be given slots, during which, they will have to arrive at the collection points for immersion.

Last year many organisers cancelled the festivities and instead held blood donation camps. BMC is expecting an uptick in the number of pandals to be set up in the city. Following the pandemic last year only 1,764 applications of Ganesh mandals were approved. The Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal, which is Mumbai’s most-visited Mandal, had called off last year’s festivities in light of the pandemic. However, this year they have planned online darshan.

The BMC is expected to release a detailed circular in this context next week. However, even this year those taking idols at home will be asked to conduct immersion in the artificial ponds of the BMC and mandals will be allowed to do immersion in the sea. But no gathering will be allowed and limited members of mandals will be allowed to come till collection points for sea immersion. The BMC has also mandals to not have more than five people inside pandals and appealed to organise online darshan.

A BMC official said, “We will be generating a QR code and sending it to big mandals of the city including Lalbaugcha Raja and other big mandals in the city. Further those, taking idols at home will have to take slots for immersion at artificial ponds. We will appeal to citizens to conduct immersion in their buildings itself like last year. Also, no aarti will be allowed at the location of immersion.”

In 2020, 31% dip was recorded in immersion of Ganesh idols in 2020 compared to 2019. This the BMC attributed to many who preferred to conduct immersion at their homes or inside their residential premises. According to the figures provided by the BMC last year, around 1.35 lakh Ganesh idols immersed in 2020 compared to 1.96 lakh idols immersed in 2019. Further, usage of artificial ponds for immersion doubled from 33,000 in 2019 to 70,000 in 2020 owing to restriction of immersion in sea.

Meanwhile, Naresh Dahibavkar, president, Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshostsav Samanvay Samiti (BSGSS) said, “This year we have not allowed gathering during immersion and only 10 people from each mandal is allowed to come till collection points. However, the condition is that 10 people should be fully vaccinated but in the younger population not all are fully vaccinated.”

Dahibavkar added, “We are expecting that BMC allows usage of loudspeakers while going to the collection points as it is required to make announcements, if there is any gathering. Also, loudspeakers have been allowed in Pune. Further, we are also expecting the BMC to allow fully vaccinated people to come for actual darshan in limited numbers.”