There were protests before the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) announced that requests to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi beyond three days will be considered.
Members of the Bengaluru Mahanagara Ganesha Utsava Samiti staged a protest on Thursday and gheraoed BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta’s car.
Utsava samiti president E. Ashwathnarayan argued against certain guidelines, including restricting one public installation of the idol per ward, restriction on the idol size, demanding that organisers across the city be allowed to install as many idols for any duration between 11 days (chauti to chaturdashi as per the Hindu calendar), apart from setting up a single window system for according permissions.
The samiti also sought unrestricted permission to immerse the idols during the 11 days.
However, the samiti agreed to follow the guidelines on the number of people allowed during the procession and immersion of the idols.
The samiti had given the BBMP time to revise its guidelines.
Sources said that BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Health) D. Randeep met with the protesters later and convinced them to withdraw their protest.