Safety prompts sweet check

City mandals are drafting new rules to ensure a peaceful and safe celebrations of the 10-day Ganpati festival, which begins on Wednesday.

The Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samnvay Samiti has asked mandals to make unknown persons eat prasad before they offer it to the elephant god.

The mandals have already taken security measures such as installing CCTV cameras, metal detectors, training volunteers to be  vigilant and issuing stickers on local vehicles for identification. The Samiti added another security measure so that the festival goes on without a hitch.

“This is one of our precautions to avoid any mishap. There are scores of people who come with various offerings to the Lord. Hence, we have asked mandals to take this step. After volunteers are sure that the prasad is safe, it can be offered to god,” said Naresh Dahibawkar, the samiti president.

According to the organisation’s estimate, 2-3 lakh devotees visit bigger mandals like Lalbaugcha Raja during the first week of the festival. Later, the number swells to 7 to 8 lakh.

Smaller mandals see a footfall of 5,000 to 7,000 devotees.

“Since volunteers — who will be given identity cards by mandals — are locals, they know most people in the area. But, there is an increase in the number of people coming from other areas. Therefore, this measure needs to be taken. There is no intention of discriminating any devotee as security of all is important,” he added.

Devotees too welcomed the move. “One can understand that hordes of people visit city mandals from various parts of the city and outside. Hence, mandals too should take extra security steps along with the police,” said Vikas Jadhav, a Vikhroli resident.

Meanwhile, the BMC has claimed it is prepared for the festival. It said it would keep a tab is kept on adulterated sweets. It would ensure nirmalya is collected time to time from all wards and immersion spots get all facilities for a smooth procession.

“There are 72 immersion spots and 24 artificial ponds in the city. We will also have 41 motor boats stationed at immersion spot and ambulances,” said a civic official.