E-Paper
Pune mandals press for permission to allow advertisements near Ganesh mandaps
The Pune police, on Sunday, held a meeting with Ganapti mandals in the city and issued guidelines for the 10-day celebrations for this year
The “Covid fund crunch” has hit small and medium-sized mandals in the city, ahead of the Ganesh festival to begin on September 10 this year.
With public donations, normally sought by house-to-house or shop-to-shop visits by these mandals, out of the question, this year, some may have to skip the public observance of the festival altogether.
“Last year, celebrations were done in a simple way. It is the same this year, but funds available with our mandal are over. To do a 10-day celebration with minimum resources, taking all precautionary measures, Rs1 lakh is needed for a medium-sized mandal,” said Piyush Shah, president, Sainath Mitra Mandal on Shivaji road.
As a result, Ganpati mandals are now talking about getting the permissions to have advertising in specific zones near the public display of the statue.
“Our demand is that police allow us to display advertisements, like we used to have in pre-Covid times. We can charge for the advertisements. It will certainly help us to keep our festival tradition going even in these tough times,” he added.
The permission is for advertisements to be displayed on barricades set up around the mandap to control crowd movement.
Ganpati mandal president Sachin Alande said, “We have cancelled our celebrations this year as there are not enough funds available. We do not want to put a financial burden on citizens by taking public donations. Every one of us is struggling in these tough situations. Advertising or direct donations from big offices or companies can help the small mandals survive this year.”
The Pune police, on Sunday, held a meeting with Ganapti mandals in the city and issued guidelines for the 10-day celebrations for this year.
Amitabh Gupta, police commissioner, Pune, said, “We have got a request from Ganpati mandals about advertisements and our discussions are going on. Soon an appropriate decision, beneficial for everyone, will be taken.”
