Nagpur: 5,000 illegal Ganeshotsav welcome gates cost civic body revenue, choke roads
Around 5,000 unauthorised welcome gates put up for Ganeshotsav in Nagpur have evaded municipal fees and are also blocking traffic, residents allege.
olt
A controversy has broken out in Nagpur amid the Ganeshotsav festivities. It has emerged that around 5,000 welcome gates have been put up across the city this year, and it is alleged that not a single one is on record with the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) office. This means no one took legal permission from the advertisement department, and the prescribed fee was not deposited either.
The figure is not a random guess. More than 1,000 public Ganeshotsav mandals are currently active in the city, and each mandal puts up an average of three to five welcome gates in its area and on nearby main roads. Based on this, the citywide estimate works out to around 5,000 gates. If this turns out to be accurate, it would mean a major revenue loss for the civic body.
Interestingly, these gates carry fewer messages about Ganpati Bappa and more photographs of politicians and businessmen. Large photographs of local leaders, members of parliament, MLAs, former corporators, prospective election candidates and sponsoring businessmen adorn these welcome gates. This is why people are saying that direct political and business promotion is taking place in the name of Ganeshotsav.
Questions are also being raised over why the municipal administration does not act on these gates during the festival itself, when this happens every year. It is alleged that the formality of removing banners and illegal advertisements is carried out only after the festival ends, by which time the damage has already been done.
The direct impact of this is also visible on the roads. Heavy bamboo poles and iron poles are planted on both sides of the road, making already narrow roads even tighter. In the evening, when crowds of devotees and vehicles increase, major intersections get jammed. More dangerously, these large gates put up near blind turns and intersections block the view of oncoming vehicles, raising the risk of accidents.
In view of this, concerned citizens and social organisations have demanded that the NMC survey all welcome gates, immediately remove those obstructing traffic, and take action as per rules against advertisements put up without permission. All eyes are now on the municipal administration to see what steps it takes regarding these gates and how it curbs activities that are harming both civic revenue and the city's traffic system.
