Mumbai civic body removes 808 posters within 10 days after Ganeshotsav

Of the 808 illegal banners and posters, 503 were political in nature and 204 were religious. As many as 101 were commercial.

It’s not just unauthorised pandals that mushroom on Mumbai’s roads during Ganeshotsav. There is also an increase in illegal hoardings, especially around these pandals.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) licence department has removed 808 banners and posters — twice the monthly average — after the festival.

Of the 808 illegal banners and posters, 503 were political in nature and 204 were religious. As many as 101 were commercial.

An official from the licence department said, “In other months, we remove 350 to 400 banners and posters. Within 10 days after the festival, we removed 808 banners. Some posters were cleared during Eid.”

The official said residential areas saw fewer illegal hoardings, but Girgaum, Lower Parel, Parel, Mumbai Central and Byculla, Ghatkopar, Malad, and Borivali recorded a high number of such posters.

These areas either have a large Marathi, Gujarati or Muslim population, or are shopping hubs.

The official said, “If pandals have civic permissions, it is easier to regularise them, but so many pandals are unauthorised, we cannot keep a check on the hoardings they put up. Also, most of them are supported by some political party, which is why maximum illegal banners are political in nature.”

According to the BMC data, 1,165 mandals were given permission to erect pandals.

The BMC had received 2,085 applications, of which it rejected 239. More than 600 applications were pending at the start of the festival.