BMC keeps Bappa devotees waiting at 1,318 pandals

MUMBAI: Only 48 hours remain for Ganeshotsav to begin and as per the civic body’s report, there are 1,318 pandal permissions that are pending. Brihanmumbai Municipal

MUMBAI: Only 48 hours remain for Ganeshotsav to begin and as per the civic body’s report, there are 1,318 pandal permissions that are pending. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had received 2,176 applications, of which only 480 have been granted across 24 wards in the city.

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Out of them, 378 have been rejected and 1,318 are pending. Of the pending applications, 1,150 are on the police’s desk while 168 await the civic body’s approval.

Majority of the applications — 189 — are pending from K/east ward (Andheri, Vile parle). These are waiting for no-objection certificates from the police , followed by M/east and M/west ward (Deonar, Govandi, Chembur), 157 and 108, respectively.

With the new policy in place, civic officials will grant permissions only on receiving no-objection certificates (NOCs) from the police and traffic department. As per the policy, The BMC forwards the applications received from various ganesh mandals to the concerned police stations. After inspecting the site, NOCs are granted. Following NOC, the civic body then grants or denies permissions. The procedure was introduced last year.

If the civic sources are to be believed, there are over 11,000 idols that are immersed but applications received is not even 10% of the total. Some applications are pending for failure to pay mandap fee and insufficient information in the forms.

“The police and traffic department is following the court directive. The problem lies with the applications,” said Sanjay Deshmukh, additional municipal commissioner.