Maharashtra is eagerly awaiting this year’s Ganeshotsav, which will be celebrated for the first time since it was officially declared the state’s festival earlier this year. Aiming for a smooth and peaceful celebration, the Panvel Municipal Corporation conducted a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the management of the festival celebrations in the city. The meeting was held at the Adya Krantiveer Vasudev Balwant Phadke Auditorium. In this meeting, an online system for granting permission to the mandals was demonstrated. The civic authorities also discussed the eco-friendly Ganesh Festival Competition.
Online Application System Introduced For Ganesh Mandals:During this meeting, the civic body did a live demo of how the newly introduced online system will grant permission to the Ganesh Mandals (Public festival Groups). This permit is necessary for all the Ganesh Mandals to organise the festival in their localities. Without obtaining permission from the civic body, mandals cannot build pandals in public places. To streamline festival preparations and enhance transparency, PMC has launched a Unified Online Permission Portal for public Ganesh Utsav celebrations. As part of the state’s 150-day celebration program, PMC has rolled out a Single Window Online System to simplify the process of obtaining mandatory permissions. During a planning session, Deputy Commissioner Ravikiran Ghodke announced that this centralized platform will integrate the No Objection Certificates (NOCs) required from key departments—including the traffic police, local police stations, fire brigade, and property officials.
Mandal Permissions Now Online at https://pandal.maharts.com:Ganesh festival organizers can now apply for mandap permissions through PMC’s zonal offices (A, B, C, D, and Navade Subdivision) using the official portal. Authorities have urged all Ganesh mandals to use the website for a quicker, hassle-free, and more transparent approval process.
Pandal Norms Adherence:Commissioner Mangesh Chitale highlighted that all the public mandals will seek permission for their pandals and will advertise about their pandals as per the High Court guidelines. He said that all the idols of Lord Ganesh under 6 feet should be immersed only in artificial ponds that are created by the Corporation. Mandals should dispose of the floral waste and other offerings responsibly in the corporation's collection vans.
Traffic Management:To manage traffic during the festival, the authorities informed that additional security officials from the Raigad Security Board will be deployed across the city.
Security Set-Ups:Police Inspector Rajendra Kote asked the mandals to install CCTV cameras, hire volunteers for idol protection around the clock, and keep noise levels within the permitted range. He urged people to cooperate with the police and to strictly follow the law.
Eco-Friendly Ganesh Festival Competition:Authorities also shared the details of this competition with the mandals. They informed them about the guidelines issued by the police department for this competition. A number of the mandals' concerns and recommendations were also discussed in the session. The "Saptasootri" (seven-point agenda) for encouraging environmentally responsible Ganesh celebrations was presented by Deputy Commissioner Swaroop Kharge, who also provided information about the contests for artificial immersion arrangements, idol contributions, and public and home decorations.