Netas unwilling to lower height of dahi hands!

The railway police has launched a drive against dangerous stunts atop local trains but no one is concerned at the rising number of injuries to youngsters falling atop human pyramids in pursuit of the dahi handi prize money.

Every year, politician patrons raise the height of the pot (of curd) so that teams compete to make higher and higher human pyramids. The prize money can go up to Rs 25 lakh. Last year, no team managed to reach the dahi handi at Thane’s Vartkak Nagar to claim the prize money of Rs 25 lakh.

Asked about the need to restrict the height of dahi handis, Manisha Mhaiskar, BMC’s additional municipal commissioner (health), said, ``That is not my subject. The government has to take a stand on it.’’

With the authorities unwilling to take a stand on the issue, MLAs such as Jitendra Awhad of the NCP continue raising the height of the dahi handis. ``Govindas are injured in falls from pyramids that are just five tiers high. So, the height of the dahi handi is not an issue,’’ he said.

Awhad said that he has done a group insurance of Rs 2 cr and that doctors and an ambulance are at hand.

Poorvesh Sarnaik, son of Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik, a rival mandal to Awahad’s in Thane says, ``We don’t set the height. It depends on the ability of the participating group. He added that they would take full responsibility for injuries or deaths. ``For the past six years, we have been supporting the family of a govinda who was severely injured in a fall at a Dadar dahi handi.

Bala Padelkar of Mazgaon Tadwadi said they would not rest until their broke the Spanish record of ten tiers. Mumbai has reached nine tiers. ``No one can stop us. My own son climbs up the pyramid,’’ he said

However, Sena MLA Vinod Ghosalkar said that limiting the height of the dahi handi was their responsibility.

In 2009, a public interest litigation (PIL) had been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking a ban on participation of minors in dahi handis. According to Gita Singh, Director of the Support India Foundation, data obtained through Right to Information Act (RTI) revealed that nearly hundred children were injured during this competition. Singh had made it clear that the PIL seeks to ban the participation of children in the formation of human pyramid during this competition and not the ban on dahi handi competition itself. She added that the society should be more sensitive and aware about the physical harm the children suffer due to the fall.