The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has pulled down 11,563 illegal banners, posters, and advertisement boards from public places after the Ganesh festival, between September 7 and September 12. Of these, about 20 per cent were political banners and 70 per cent were religious in nature. Only 10 per cent were commercial advertisements.

The civic body undertakes a special drive every year to address the spurt in illegal banners that deface the city during the festive seasons of Navratri, Ganesh Chaturthi, and Diwali. According to BMC’s rules, Ganesh mandals can host banners within a radius of approximately 15 metres from the pandal. Any other banners that come up, including those on traffic medians (road dividers), traffic signals, on bollards of footpaths, and around traffic islands, are not authorised by the civic body.