In a welcoming news, a day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s visit to Pune, he has permitted mandals to use loudspeakers till midnight for five days instead of four during Ganpati festival.
Besides, the validity of the approval for the pandals will henceforth be for five years. Five years’ permission to erect mandals will be given to those if they remain at the same spot during the 10-day festival, Shinde added.
These decisions came after the mandals, during Tuesday’s meeting, August 2, highlighted the problem in getting permission for setting up pandals every year.
While talking to media, Shinde shared: “We are going to celebrate all our festivals in a grand way this time and instructions have been given to the concerned government authorities and police department to ease the restrictions this year. Permission will be given for five days to mandals to play loudspeaker till 12 midnight.”
In addition, Shinde added that the issues pertaining to giving permanent power meters to Mandals will also be taken care of.
“We have instructed Pune district collector to conduct an immediate meeting with the MSEDCL officials and provide a permanent meter to Mandals who demand for it,” Shinde mentioned.
For those unversed, according to current practice, local authorities give permission to Ganesh mandals to set up pandals ahead of the festival every year. The permission is valid for that year’s festival.
While for the loudspeakers, according to Supreme Court guidelines, it cannot be played beyond 10 pm in public places with an exemption for 15 days, which is decided by local administration.
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