Ganesh Utsav: BMC keeps mandals hanging for pandal construction permit

BMC. File Pic

What kind of a game is the civic body playing with Ganpati mandals? With the deadline to apply for the construction of a pandal just a day away, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has kept 452 applications hanging, thus reducing their chance to reapply, in case of rejection, to almost zero.

Civic officials said if the reason for rejection is documents missing, the mandals in question can reapply. But the 400-odd whose applications have been kept on hold may not be able to, considering the last date is August 31. Deputy Municipal Commissioner Narendra Barde said the applications will be finalised in the coming two days.

As per court orders
Even though the city has more than 10,000 mandals, BMC received only 2,694 applications, of which 594 were cancelled due to duplication. From the rest, 1,425 have been given a go-ahead, whereas 223 have been rejected by the police.

Permissions and rejections were handed out after considering HC orders - no mandal should encroach footpaths, must be fire-compliant, and not obstruct traffic. A civic official said, "Many mandals celebrate the festival on their private premises; in such cases, they assume that our permission is not needed, and because there is no complaint, we don't come to know about it either. But now, as even police permission is linked with ours, all mandals will have to apply on our website only."

A first
This is the first year permission for pandal construction has to be taken online; the civic chief had asked ward officials to help representatives of mandals. Officials, yesterday, also said that those mandals that have uploaded all the main documents with their application won't need to repeat the process next year, as their data will be saved with the civic body.

Also Read: Mumbai: Raj Thackeray meets Commissioner of Police over Ganesh pandal permits

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