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This is an archive article published on August 22, 2019

Noise pollution by Ganesh mandals: Pimpri police, PCMC pass the buck

Activists said that busy roads and residential areas have become popular spots for mandals to practise ‘dhol tasha’, resulting in traffic chaos and noise pollution. According to the activists, it should ideally be done on open grounds or near riversides.

Pune ganesh mandals, Pimpri-Chinchwad Police, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Pune noise pollution, pune news Roads and residential areas have become popular spots for mandals to practise ‘dhol tasha’. 

THE Pimpri-Chinchwad Police and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) seem to be passing the buck when it comes to taking action against Ganesh mandals, which have started practising ‘dhol tasha’ in residential areas and on key roads, causing noise pollution and traffic gridlocks.

Ahead of the Ganesh festival next month, several mandals have started ‘dhol tasha’ practice sessions, with volunteers loudly playing traditional musical instruments. In Pimpri-Chinchwad, the Pune-Mumbai highway seems to be their favourite spot. Activists said that busy roads and residential areas have become popular spots for mandals to practise ‘dhol tasha’, resulting in traffic chaos and noise pollution. According to the activists, it should ideally be done on open grounds or near riversides.

When contacted, Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissioner R K Padmanabhan said they can’t take action because of a High Court ruling. “The HC has given a ruling in this matter… We will abide by the order,” he said. The civic body gives permission to the mandals and it should act in the matter, he added.

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The PCMC said it was not its job. “The PCMC does not give permission to the mandals. This issue relates to noise pollution and the police should take action in the matter,” PCMC executive engineer Sanjay Kulkarni said. He added that he was not aware of any HC ruling on practice sessions by mandals.

Civic activist Shridhar Chalkha said that the PCMC and police cannot shun their responsibilities.

“Ganesh mandal volunteers use traditional musical instruments and these are being played in residential areas. The decibel levels should not cross the 40-50 mark. However, during the practice sessions the noise levels cross the 100-decibel mark,” advocate Sachin Godambe said.

Meanwhile, the Pimpri-Chinchwad police said they would take action against any mandal forcibly seeking “vargani” or donation from people. “We will book them for extortion,” Padmanabhan said.

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On Monday, the police arrested three persons in Bhosari area for trying to collect funds forcibly for the Ganesh festival following a complaint lodged by a businessman. A case under Section 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and other relevant sections of IPC was registered against the three.

Besides Bhosari area, Thergaon, Kalewadi, Mohannagar, Chikhli and Wakad are some of the areas where volunteers in the past had tried to forcibly collect donation.

The police said they were keeping a close watch especially on Bhosari, Kalewadi and Chiklhi areas.

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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