Nashik : With the Ganpati festival beginning on Monday, only 60% to 70% of the Ganesh mandals that had taken police permission last year had secured permission by Friday in Nashik city.
Senior police officials, however, said mandals would continue applying for permission until Sept 14 and for a few days thereafter. Last year, 867 Ganesh mandals had secured police permission, including 442 in Zone 1 and 425 in Zone 2. Zone 2 police officials said 257 mandals had obtained permission till Friday, about 60% of last year’s figure. Zone 1 police officials also said fewer mandals had approached them so far compared to last year, but the number was expected to rise in the coming days. DCP Zone 2 Kishor Kale told TOI that the number of mandals this year would be the same as, if not higher than, last year’s, with more expected to approach the police for permission over the next few days.
At a recent meeting of Ganesh mandal office-bearers called by the city police, Sameer Shete, president of the Association of Sarvajanik Ganesh Mandals, said, “This year many of the Ganesh Mandals are wondering where they can set up the pandal of the Ganesh Mandal considering that most of the roads in the city have been dug up.”