To clear the confusion among public Ganeshotsav organisers regarding the height of Lord Ganesh's idol, the BMC has decided to do away with the condition of installing four-feet-tall busts, which are eco-friendly as well. The state government earlier said that there would be no height restriction for idols of sarvajanik mandals while the civic body underlined that public Ganeshotsav organisers can't install statues of more than a certain height. The mismatch between the stances of BMC and government threw the organisers in a tizzy, resulting in low turnout of applicants seeking permission for mass celebration of the festival.
From August 1, the municipality started a one-window system for expeditiously granting permissions to Ganesh mandals. The application process requires mandals to submit an affidavit, stating that they will not set up idols taller than four feet. However, the clause has discouraged many mandals from coming forward to seek permissions.
“Our discussion is going on the issue and the condition will be removed in a day or two. Till August 9, around 350 mandals have applied for the permissions while nod has been given to 260 mandals to erect pandals,” said Deputy Municipal Commissioner Ramakant Biradar.
There are 12,000 Ganesh mandals in Mumbai. Every year, they have to take permission from BMC, traffic cops, and local police stations to erect pandals. This year, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde directed the civic body to start a one-window system for granting all the permissions in one go.
