Permissions for Ganesh mandal in a week: BMC

After the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elicited criticism for its new, snail-paced online registration system of Ganesh Chaturthi and Navratri introduced this year, the civic body has assured the city Ganesh mandals all online permissions will be provided in a week.

Several complaints and questions were raised by mandals about the portal, since it was slow and was creating a delay in getting permissions. At a meeting on Friday, BMC officials refused to do away with the online system, but assured the system would be made more effective and all permissions would be issued in seven days’ time.

The Ganesh mandal coordination committee in the city had asked the civic body to also provide an offline system for permissions.

“The concerned officials have promised that the permissions will be given quickly. Not every mandal member knows how to use a computer, so the civic body will also provide them training for better understanding of the online system,” said Naresh Dahibhavkar, president of Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshutsav Samanvay Samiti (BSGSS).

The corporation had made it mandatory for all pandals to get permissions from traffic, police and fire departments. To improve the application-approval rate, the civic body had introduced the online system. It also laid down a lost of rules to be followed by the mandals to ensure a safe festival.