Corporators turn cops for Ganesh fest

“I have special powers under which anyone can be appointed to perform police duty. Therefore,I am planning to appoint corporators or workers of Ganesh mandals to take up the responsibility during the festival period,” police commissioner Gulabrao Pol said,addressing members of mandals at a meeting organised by the Pune Municipal Corporation on Monday. The Ganesh festival starts on September 19 and ends on September 29.

“It is practically not possible for the police to manage security during the festival when lakhs of tourists from all over the world visit the city,” the police chief said.

The circumstances in which this year’s Ganesh festival is taking place are different from those in the past as the city has recently experienced serial bomb blasts,Pol said.

He said it was binding on the police to implement the rules set by the state government and courts. “Allowing loudspeakers till midnight as against the restriction till 10 pm,and allowing any number of fixed arches for advertising,are not possible… We have no alternative but to implement it,” Pol said.

Municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak said the civic body has prepared a report on locations where CCTVs are to be installed. “The proposal is with the state government and we are awaiting the government’s nod to execute it,” he said. He said the civic body would continue with a single-window system for permissions to mandals and would speed up the process.

Earlier,representatives of Ganesh mandals urged the police and civic body to remove all restrictions as it was a public festival. “If we want to continue the culture of the festival,then we need to remove restrictions on erecting more than two arches as the mandals rely on advertisement revenie,” said Dheeraj Ghate,president of Sane Guruji Ganesh Mandal. He also demanded relaxation of the restriction on loudspeakers.

Pramod Kondhre of Natubaug Mitra Mandal too said the curbs on arches would make it difficult for mandals to raise money. Anand Saraf of Vignahartha Nyas said,“There are 50,000 hawkers during the 10-day festival and most of them live on streets. The PMC should help provide them shelter during the night.”

DCP Makrand Ranade said there will be changes for the immersion procession with the starting point on Kelkar Road at Appa Balwant Chowk instead of Lal Mahal,on Kumthekar Road at Chitale Bandhu sweet shop instead of Mandai,and for Tilak Road at Abhinav Chowk.