85% of requests to build Ganesh pandals await BMC, police nod

Post HC order for pandals to not obstruct traffic, authorities exercise caution while giving permission

After the Bombay high court last year ordered that Ganpati pandals constructed on roads should not affect traffic, the authorities are taking extra precautions while granting permissions for construction of such structures.

An artist carrying a Ganapati idol ahead of the festival on Monday. (Vidya Subramanian/HT PHOTO)

As per Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) report, on August 20, total 771 applications were received, of which 89 mandals had been denied permission and 20 given a thumbs up. While 590 applications are pending with police alone, 72 are awaiting approval from various ward offices, getting the total figure of pending applications to 662, which is 85% of the total complaints. Majority of pending applications (61) are in K-west ward (Andheri, Jogeshwari, Vile Parle west areas). According to the report, 76% of the total applications are also awaiting No Objection Certificates (NOC) from the police.

With the new festival policy in place, the civic officials were to grant permissions only on receiving NOCs from the police, traffic and fire departments. “The mandals have been denied permission owing to various reasons such as, denied NOC by the police or traffic department, a new mandal applies for permissions, if the required documents are not in place, among others,” said a civic official.

Anand Waghralkar, deputy municipal commissioner, said, “The applications that are pending were received recently and after receiving police NOC, the concerned ward office will immediately grant permissions.”