At Mumbai Ganesh mandals, gutkha comes in tea bags

‘‘It will be grander than before. We get about a lakh and a half from the Manikchand group, the biggest chunk of our year’s budget for the festivities,’’ says treasurer of the Lalbagh Sarvajanik Utsav Mandal, Ganesh Gali, Ravindra Gaikwad.

‘‘We are building a Meenakshi temple replica and that is why our budget has risen to Rs 25 lakh. Every year, we would budget at Rs 8 lakh,’’ says Gaikwad, adding that though the mandal doesn’t really need the sponsors, ‘‘the Manikchands will probably be backing us this year too’’.

The Manikchands have also been sponsoring the gates for the ‘‘Lalbaugcha Raja’’ for some time now and will continue to do so, says secretary of the Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav Mandal, Shekhar Salunke. ‘‘All the gates will be sponsored by them. This costs about Rs 80,000. But it’s never gutkha, just tea,’’ says Salunke.

But there are also some shying away from associating themselves with the gutkha companies. Secretary of the Parel Sarvajanik Utsav Mandal, Raman Khot says though gutkha companies sponsored their mandal earlier, he would not allow it now: ‘‘Since gutkha is banned, we should not take their sponsorship. “

A Manikchand spokesperson confirmed that contracts with the pandal associations are long-term, adding that they would be sponsoring Ganesh pandals as usual.