Ganesh Chaturthi 2022: BMC agrees to request of mandals to consider permission given in 2019 as a base

The Ganesh Mandal waiting for permission from BMC ahead of the great Ganpati festival in Mumbai to erect Mandals can finally have a sigh of relief after the civic body agreed to the request of Ganesh Mandals to consider permission given in 2019 as a base. The applications stuck in scrutiny will be cleared by Monday, said a civic official.

The city will be celebrating its first Ganeshotsav after two years since the pandemic. So after extending the deadline, the number of applications has reached 3,487, of which, the BMC has approved 2,220, while 474 forms have been rejected, and around 231 forms have been stuck in the process. With the Ganeshotsav just two days away, many are still waiting for permission.

"We have requested the BMC to consider the permission given to the Mandals in 2019 as a base and approve the applications stuck in scrutiny. There are around 200 such applications," said Naresh Dahibavkar, president of Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti.

Shivaji Khairnar, joint secretary of Ganeshotsav Samiti said, "Some chawls and slums in the suburbs have undergone redevelopment. So the place has changed, Mandals in these places are finding it difficult to get permission."

"The BMC has started one window system to speed up the process but some of the old Mandals still follow the offline method. The deadline ended on Friday, but some Mandals have still not been able to submit the forms," said the Samanvay Samiti.

The BMC started the process of granting permission to Mandals on July 4. It is a one-window system and the allowance fee has also been waived off ahead of the festival. Last year, the civic body had received 2,507 applications, of which, 2,048 were granted permission.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner Ramankant Biradar said, "We are considering the applications stuck in the process. They will be cleared in a day."