Varanasi civic body to levy charges for organising events on Ganga ghats

Organisers must pay ₹880 per sq. metre for events on Ganga ghats and apply via the app at least 15 days in advance.

Organising events on the ghats of the Ganga in Varanasi will now require paying a fee to the municipal corporation, an official said on Tuesday.

Before this, organisers only had to seek permission from the civic body to organise programmes on the ghats and no fee was charged for it. (File)

Varanasi Municipal Corporation public relations officer Sandeep Srivastava said, before this, organisers only had to seek permission from the civic body to organise programmes on the ghats and no fee was charged for it.

"Now, permission will have to be taken from the municipal corporation for social, cultural and religious events but the organisers will not need to come to the office. They will have to apply for permission on the Smart Kashi app," he said.

The civic body will charge the organisers a fee of ₹880 per square metre.

Applications will have to be submitted on the app 15 days before events.

The applications will have to include photographs of the location selected and detailed information of the event that will then be checked by the zonal officer.

Srivastava said this system would be started in a few days.