Mumbai: Six days on, ‘Chandivli Mahotsav’ continues illegally

The merrygoround spun in circles and children giggled and screamed on the giant wheel as the organisers of the Chandivli Mahotsav continued operations even on FridayWhile the ongoing illegal Chandivli Mahotsav being held at the Matoshree Meenatai Thackeray Garden is clearly the result of adamant and irresponsible organisers midday found that another major reason for the lack of strict action was a communication gap between two authoritiesmdashthe Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC and the Sakinaka police stationAlthough the BMC had officially informed the police station through a letter that the funfair was being held without the corporationrsquos permission PI Yogesh Shinde told midday that the letter never reached them ldquoToday Friday after we got free from PM Narendra Modirsquos bandobast duties when I reached the office and checked for the letter we realised that no such letter had been received by my office So we called up the BMC ward officer and informed themrdquo said ShindeIt was later learned that the letter had not reached the police station because the corporation did not send it directly through its officials but chose to post it instead ldquoWe followed the regular procedure and since the funfair was still going on we asked our officials to visit the police station on Friday and ensure that the organisers vacate the gardenrdquo said BMC L Ward Assistant Commissioner Dhanaji HerlekarEven after the BMC called up the organisers and warned them to vacate the garden the funfair functioned in full swing The food jewellery stalls along with other play activities also continued to entertain the visitorsldquoNo one told us to stop the activities or dismantle anything Why would we continue if the organisers asked us to vacate We donrsquot know anything about the permissions Our contractor asked us to set up our activities so we did Now wersquoll remove everything when he tells us to We donrsquot know anything beyond thatrdquo said Bansi Mohanlal who operates the giant wheelWhen questioned organiser Prashant Maurya said ldquoYou printed whatever you wanted to print You did your job Now we will do ours as well We can see that people are enjoying all the activities We will vacate it by tonight Let the people enjoy todayrdquoAngry residents speakThe residents of the area are now demanding that an FIR be registered against these irresponsible organisers ldquoThese people think that since they belong to the ruling party no rules apply to them They think they are beyond the authorities police and regulations The police patrol every evening and night Why did they not take any action despite knowing that the law is being blatantly disrespected What are the authorities waiting for Where were the BMC officials when the activities were still operational on Friday despite warnings Donrsquot the organisers have any responsibility and shamerdquo questioned Mandeep Singh Makkar founder of the Chandivli Citizens Welfare AssociationAuthorities reactldquoWe have informed the BMC officials that we will take necessary actions as soon as they approach us It is our duty to ensure that law and order are followed in the city However everything has a procedure This primarily falls under the purview of the corporation and we can interfere and take matters into our hands only when official communication reaches usrdquo said ShindeCongress MP Varsha Gaikwad in post on X demanded that an FIR against the organisers should be registeredatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params