Ganesh Chaturthi 2022: Last Day to Get BMC Approval for Ganesh Pandals; Delhi-NCR Artisans See Rise in Demand, Neon Idols in Style

With less than a week to go for Ganesh Chaturthi, states across the country have been ramping up preparations for the much awaited festival that commences on August 31.

After two years of pandemic restrictions, the festival is being celebrated in full swing, with events being planned on a grand scale.

While public pandals mostly observe the festival for all 11 days until September 9, many people bring Ganesh idols home for either one and a half days, three days, five days or seven days. The common practice is to immerse the idols in the seas, or rivers.

Mumbai, which sees some of the most large-scale celebrations of the festival, has been gearing up preparations even as the BMC has rejected 16 percent applications to erect pandals.

BMC Rejects 16 Percent Applications of Ganesh Mandals

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has rejected 16 percent of the applications received from Ganesh mandals for erecting pandals in public spaces in the city.

The BMC has rejected 445 applications of the 2,779 applications it received, approving 2,034. It has also extended the deadline for granting permission until August 26 after requests were made by Ganesh mandals across the city.

BJP Mumbai’s president Ashish Shelar took to social media to urge the BMC to reconsider the rejected applications. “If BMC does not have justifiable reasons to reject permissions to such mandals, they should be reconsidered.”

The rejected applications had gone through various rounds of scrutiny, including a no-objection certificate from the traffic police, Mumbai police and the Mumbai Fire Brigade.

A senior civic official told Indian Express, “The 10 per cent or so pending applications will be approved in time before the festival.”

Delhi-NCR Gears Up With Neon Ganpatis

Artists in the Delhi-NCR region are hopeful that business this year will be better after the slump of the last two years. Artists and idol sellers are reportedly seeing a surge in demand and are hopeful of recovering the losses of previous years.

“This year, we’re getting a lot of customers, unlike the previous two years. Maal achhe se bik raha hai aur sab ko pasand bhi aa raha hai (items are selling well and everyone is liking them). Small idols start from ₹4,000, and go up to ₹50,000 for 10ft idols,” Soba Ram, an artisan stationed at Mayur Vihar flyover tells Hindustan Times.

Neon and pop colours are in demand for the idols in the capital. “Iss saal neon colour bada chal raha hai. We are making idols mitti aur POP mix karke. We’re using watercolours that dissolve during immersion and don’t worsen pollution,” Ram says.

Neetu, another artisan who runs a stall at Sarojini Nagar market adds that people have been flocking her stall for several days now. “People have a lot of faith for this festival, even if it is not Delhi’s own festival, people have made it their own,” she tells HT.

Eco-friendly Idols in Karnataka

Keeping in mind the environment, artists in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi are making clay idols that are eco-friendly.

Sangesh, a shop owner and MBA graduate from the area, tells ANI that he has been making clay idols for seven years.

“I’ve been making clay idols for the past 7 years. The aim is for it to be eco-friendly & to generate employment,” he says.

Read all the Latest News India and Breaking News here