Have flu-like symptoms? Don’t go pandal-hopping

The Ganapati festival this year will be celebrated under the clouds of swine flu and heavy security at the pandals as many of them fall under silence zones and will have to keep their noise levels under control, reports Bhavika Jain.

The Ganapati festival this year will be celebrated under the clouds of swine flu and heavy security at the pandals as many of them fall under silence zones and will have to keep their noise levels under control. The civic body has advised people with any flu-like symptoms to avoid visiting mandals.

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“The pandals are crowded during the festival and hence, the infection will spread quickly,” said Madhav Sangle, Additional Municipal Commissioner.

The security arrangements in the pandals will also be strict in wake of 26/11 terror attacks. The mandals will have to install CCTV’s, metal detectors and hire security guards to keep a close vigil on the crowd.

All the people who will handle the CCTV’s were trained by the police. Also, 30 men who were trained as bomb-squads at Pune will be posted in these mandals.

There are more than 1.2 lakh ganapatis in the city; of them 10,000 are sarvajanik ganaptis and 1.10 lakh household ganapatis. The 1,122 silence zones demarcated in the city will not be relaxed for the festival.

The Navy and 500 lifeguards will be posted in all immersion places in the city during the days of immersions. In order to manage the waste generated during the festival, 136 nirmalya kalaash will be placed in different part of the city.