The resonant festivities associated with Ganeshotsav often gloss over the ferment they bring alongside. The already muddled traffic situation in the city goes completely haywire. The crux of the problem, as MiD DAY discovered, is the utter disregard for the norms laid down by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and police among Ganesh mandals, who have like every other year instated pandals occupying more than half of the road width. Consequences include inconvenience to motorists and pedestrians, and damage to road alignment owing to digging.The civic agency and police officials seem helpless in taking preventive action against these mandals. And the penalties or punishment meted out under relevant sections of Bombay Police Act are not sufficient enough to deter violators. With six days to the deadline, only 13 mandals have bothered to take permission from PMC so far this year. u00a0Our team visited a few locations like Laxmi road, Tilak road and Sadashiv Peth area to lay bare how blatantly the mandals have transgressed PMC and traffic regulations.u00a0

Chhatrapati Rajaram Mandal, Sadashiv Peth
MiD DAY observes: The pandal embellishment has completely covered the road and vehicles, pedestrians have to pass under the marquee. The view of drivers is blocked, which may lead to accidents near the junction. Also, the ornamentation material and bamboos lying on the road are resulting in traffic chaos.