Dinesh Kamath's news 'Precautionary measures being taken to ensure peaceful Ganesh Festival' that was pubished in Newsband

Precautionary measures being taken to ensure peaceful Ganesh Festival

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation has taken a strict stand during the forthcoming Ganesh Festival. They have asked the devotees of Lord Ganesh to obtain No Objection Certificate from police if they wished to put up Ganesh Mandals. Without NOC, no Ganesh Mandals will be allowed to function, said the NMMC authorities. This they said was the order of the Court.

The mandal owners were also warned that they should not block the entire road by installing their pandals. They were told to leave open a reasonable amount of space for the members of public to use. NMMC has also come heavily against putting up of hoardings and have granted permission to put up not more than two hoardings by each mandal.

The encroachment department and ward officers have been extremely busy sorting out ways and means to prevent Ganesh Mandals from becoming a source of harassment for them during the forthcoming Ganesh Festival. It seems that they have learnt from their experiences during the Ganesh Festivals in the past. NMMC had to face the defiance of these mandals who would come up with pandals right on the middle of the road, thus challenging the Law. This time the civic body has become wiser and has asked each mandal to furnish with NMMC all their details, including the date of immersing of the statues, so that both the civic body and the police department will not have to face any kind of problem during the festival period.  

NMMC is also busy cleaning all the lakes and ponds which will be used for immersion. Both NMMC and Navi Mumbai Police Commissionerate are jointly working out strategies to tackle any problem that arises during the festival period.

The police commissioner has asked all the Ganesh mandals to install as many CCTV as possible so that no crime committed during the festival period will go undetected. In the past, criminals would use this festival period as opportunity to make enormous profit. But the advent of CCTV cameras has made their criminal business suffer considerably.

The pickpockets, stalkers and other anti-social elements are easily caught nowadays thanks to CCTV cameras which never fail to display any crime taking place within the areas they are focused on. Popular Mandals which attract more crowds are told to install most number of CCTV cameras to prevent any miscreant from playing any kind of mischief.

The city police are also alert in case of any terror threats that might crop up during the festival. The strategies to decide how many policemen should be deployed at which spots are being worked out as accurately as possible. Even the members of public are being told to remain alert and report to the nearest police chowky in case someone is found moving around in a manner that invites their suspicion.

The owners of Ganesh Mandals are also become aware of the seriousness of the situation and they are not hesitating to spend any amount to have CCTV cameras installed during the festival. Thus all necessary precautionary measures are being taken to ensure that Ganesh Festival this time is celebrated in a peaceful atmosphere without the interference of any anti-social element. So it is hoped that everything will go smooth during the forthcoming Ganesh festival.