Over 300 illegal pandals in Mumbai ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi; HC seeks details on action taken by officials

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court directed the Maharashtra government and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday to detail the steps taken against unauthorised pandals across the state ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. In Mumbai alone, over 300 illegal pandals have come up ahead of the 10-day festival which starts Thursday, the government said. A bench of Justices AS Oka and MS Sonak directed the authorities to inform the court of the action taken by Friday. The directions came after the court was informed by the government that recent inspection by various municipal corporations across Maharashtra revealed that several pandals have been constructed in violation of civic rules and noise pollution norms. [caption id=“attachment_5172621” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The 10-day Ganesh Chaturthi festival begins on 13 September. Sachin Gokhale/Firstpost[/caption] In Mumbai and suburbs alone, over 300 such illegal pandals were found, said government lawyer Abhinandan Vagyani. There were 132 illegal pandals within the island city limits and another 217 in the suburbs, he said. “This is in clear breach of our orders. Tell us how these illegal pandals came to be erected despite previous orders of this court,” the bench said. The judges directed the government to find out whether these violations were knowingly ignored by the BMC or regularised. The bench was hearing a bunch of petitions seeking strict implementation of noise pollution rules in the state and action against illegal pandals.