Cops to consider Ganesh mandals’ demand to erect box stands for ads

“We are aware the biggest concern of Ganesh mandals is to allow them erect box stands to generate revenue through advertising,” said Makrand Ranade, deputy police commissioner.

He said, the city police considers every mandal as equal and provides security to all. “There are around five thousand Ganesh mandals in the city and it is necessary for all to take precautionary safety measures to avoid any untoward incident,” Ranade said.

Additional municipal commissioner MS Devnikar said, the PMC was in favour of allowing the mandals to erect stands for advertisements, but the final decision will be taken jointly with the police department on August 13.

Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal said, the civic body would focus on cleanliness drive during the festival and make special effort to install mobile toilets for women across the city during Ganesh festival.

Standing committee chairman Arvind Shinde said the police should appoint festival warden to manage the crowd during the festival and help avoid any untoward incident.

“The citizens should be alert in the backdrop of the bomb blast,” he said. Shinde urged Ganesh mandals to install idols made of sand instead of plaster of paris to avoid pollution of river.

BJP leader Mukta Tilak said, all the mandals should frame guidelines for celebration during the festival and set a new trend to ensure that there are no problems during the festival.

One-time property tax to be discussed

Leaders of various political parties would discuss the possibility of introducing one-time property tax for properties in its jurisdiction so that the civic body can get more revenue that can be used for taking up big development projects. “The civic body should charge property tax for 20 years so that the amount collected can be used for big projects. If the amount is deposited in the bank then the civic body can raise annual expenditure funds from the interest on the amount,” said Congress leader Ulhas Bagul. This will also reduce the civic body expenditure of sending bills every year to citizens and the staff can be diverted to other departments, he said. However, the civic administration has clarified the PMC need to seek amendment in BPMC Act to introduce one tax as the existing law insists the civic body to send property tax bill every year. The collection of other components of education tax on behalf of the state government in the property tax needs to be sorted out, civic officer said.