BMC fines Lalbaugcha Raja Rs 3.66 lakh for ‘creating’ 183 potholes during Ganeshotsav

BMC officials carry out an inspection of the roads after the festival ends to check if organising committees or mandals have damaged the roads by digging them for the purpose of affixing bamboo sticks and setting up barricades in the vicinity of the pandals. The BMC imposes a fine of Rs 2,000 for every pothole found on the road.

In a letter issued to the Lalbaughcha Raja committee, the BMC’s E ward office has stated that the stretch of road between Dr Babasaheb Road and TB Kadam Marg has been damaged.

“We have imposed a fine of Rs 3,66,000 on Lalbaughcha Raja since we found around 183 potholes in the road. Most of the potholes were created since the organisers had set up railings and barricades for crowd management,” Ajay Yadav, assistant municipal commissioner of BMC’s E ward, said on Tuesday.

Ramakant Biradar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC), said that the BMC is still in the process of collating data for collecting fines from other Ganesh mandals for damaging roads.

“So far, we have collected the data from 12 municipal wards out of which only Lalbaughcha Raja has been penalised. The process of finalising the list of remaining 12 wards is underway and will be ready by this week,” Biradar said.

Meanwhile, Balasaheb Kamble, president of Lalbaughcha Raja Committee said that he has not received the BMC’s letter which specifies the fine amount and the decision on paying the fine will be taken only after his office receives the letter.

“There are atleast 20 mandals in our vicinity that organise Ganeshotsav every year. They also set up barricades on roads and during procession, they use the same roads that we do. But only we are blamed every year,” said Kamble.

It is pertinent to note that this mandal has been fines in the past for creating potholes during Ganeshotsav. In 2017, they were fined Rs 4.86 lakh, while in 2015, they were penalised to the tune of Rs 3.36 lakh and in 2014, the committee was fined Rs 5.56 lakhs. In 2012, the BMC had imposed a fine of Rs 23.56 lakhs on the Lalbaugcha Raja committee.