Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said that Ganesh mandals having “genuine issues” or “technical problems” can seek permission from the BMC till September 5 for erecting pandals for the 10-day Ganpati festival which begins on September 13.
Announcing the extension of deadline after a review meeting on preparedness for the festival across the State, the Chief Minister said, “The pandals will not have to resubmit the same documents against next year. We will ensure the on line application process is carried out smooth.”
As on Thursday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has received 2,843 applications from mandals, of which 80% have been given permission and 9% are still under process. The remaining 11% applications were rejected for non-compliance. “Even now, if they comply with rules, we will give permissions. We have permitted most but in some place, a pandal had been put around a bus stop. How can we allow that? Mandals are welcome to comply and re-apply,” said a senior civic officer.
After the meeting, BJP city chief Ashish Shelar tweeted, “Gave statement to Chief Minister regarding various demands and difficulties of Ganesh mandals through Maharashtra Ganesh utsav Samanvay Sangh.”
On Wednesday, the Mayor had extended the deadline for submission of applications to September 2, but this had been opposed by several mandals.
The Shiv Sena, which is the ruling party in the BMC and has a strong presence among these mandals, had also objected to the September 2 deadline as also, what the party termed, stricter norms for issuing permissions.
Thursday’s meeting was also attended by BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta and some Mumbai-based MLAs. (With PTI inputs)
