Mumbai, Aug 12 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday asked Ganesh mandals not to pay fine for digging up roads to set up pandals (temporary structures) for the ensuing festival till the time the Maharashtra government fills potholes on the Mumbai-Goa Highway.
The former CM suggested that a fine should be imposed on the government itself for every pothole found on the 470-km-long busy highway.
Addressing Ganesh mandals (organizing committees) which have functionaries and sympathisers of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Thackeray targeted the BJP-led Mahayuti government over the prevailing uncertainty on the use of Plaster of Paris (PoP) for making idols of the elephant-headed God.
In June, the Bombay High Court allowed manufacturing of PoP Ganpati idols, but with a caveat that they cannot be immersed in natural water bodies without its permission, a ruling coming as a relief for thousands of artisans in Maharashtra.
With the ruling, the HC has modified its January 2025 order which had imposed a complete ban on manufacturing and sale of Ganpati idols made out of PoP, a material considered environmentally harmful by green activists.
Thackeray said the ban on PoP idols, widely installed at home and public places during the ten-day Ganesh festival, has been lifted for 2025, but asked whether it will continue next year.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has hiked the fine for digging up roads while buildings Ganesh pandals to Rs 15,000 per hole from Rs 2,000 earlier. Although Mumbai suburban district guardian minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha has assured he will talk to the BMC to bring down the fine amount to Rs 2,000, there was no official word on this by the civic body so far.
"I am declaring that there should be a fine on the government for every pothole on the Mumbai-Goa Highway. Till the time those potholes are filled, we will not pay fine for the digging holes for Ganesh pandals. I am declaring this and go and tell the chief minister," Thackeray asserted.
This year, the Ganesh festival will begin on August 27.
Thackeray took a dig at Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, his arch political rival, after some Ganesh mandals earlier associated with the Shiv Sena (UBT) switched sides to the ruling coalition ally Shiv Sena, headed by the latter.
Even Ganesh pandals are being poached, the former CM remarked.
The Opposition leader hit out at the ruling allies BJP and Shiv Sena for arranging free MSRTC (Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation) buses for Ganesh devotees to travel to their native places for the festival without first addressing the issue of potholes.
While devotees are being plied for free on state-run buses, it is ensured that their bones turn creaky due to potholed roads, he quipped.