BMC Elections
- Past BMC Election Results
- Know your Booth Location
- Standing Committee Members
- BMC Elections 2017 Delimitation
- New Ward List Civic Elections 2025
- New Wards Maps for BMC Elections 2025
- BMC Election 2025 Date
- CEO Maharashtra
- Know Your BMC
- BMC News & Updates
- Wards
- Candidates
- Mumbai Corporators
- Advertise
- Contact
- Volunteer
- Privacy Policy
"Uddhav Thackeray to BMC: No Fine on Ganpati Mandals Until Potholes Are Repaired"
- by Webdesk
- 13 Aug 2025
Source: The Times Of India
Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, speaking on Tuesday, issued a strong warning that Ganpati mandals will not pay any penalty for road-digging unless the state government first repairs every single pothole on the Mumbai-Goa highway. He pointed out that Ganpati mandals traditionally dig small holes in the ground to fix bamboo poles for their mandaps during the Ganesh festival.
This year, in an attempt to protect the city’s newly concretised roads, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to drastically raise the penalty for such road-digging — increasing it for the first time from ₹2,000 to ₹15,000 per hole. Thackeray made his remarks during a meeting with several Ganpati mandal representatives.
Accusing the government of hypocrisy, Uddhav said, “They are offering free travel to Konkan to attract voters, but the journey is on potholed roads where accidents occur and bones are broken. The state should be fined for each pothole from Mumbai to Goa. Count them, and let the government pay that fine. Until they fix every single one of them, we will not pay a single rupee in penalties for putting up Ganpati mandals — and you can tell the Chief Minister that directly. They won’t be paying from their own pockets anyway; this is public money they are talking about. Even their own ministers admit this isn’t their father’s money — it belongs to the people.”
He further slammed the administration for what he described as misuse of taxpayer funds. “Public money cannot be looted, and then you come to recover money from Ganpati mandals during our festivals. First you waste people’s money, then you take it from the mandals in the name of penalties. We will not tolerate this daylight robbery. The government can try whatever they want — we will not bow down. This is nothing but an attempt to extract money from Ganpati mandals,” he declared.
Reaffirming his party’s long-standing ties with the civic body, Uddhav said, “The BMC has always stood by the Sena (UBT) and will continue to do so.” He also took a swipe at another recent decision, pointing out that there will be a ban on Plaster of Paris (PoP) idols from next year. “We don’t even know who sat on the committee that made this decision. They keep making such rules so that Ganpati mandals are forced to come and plead before them every year,” he alleged.
From the civic administration’s perspective, officials said the earlier fine amount was too low to deter violations, especially since many large Ganpati mandals have annual budgets running into crores of rupees. With the BMC currently pushing a massive cement-concretisation project aimed at making every road in Mumbai concrete, there is also a strict policy in place that prohibits any trenching or road-digging for the first three years after concreting is done.
A senior BMC official explained, “Given these rules, the digging of roads by mandals to set up their pandals is not something we can take lightly. Damaging concrete roads is costly to fix — re-laying even small damaged portions involves significant expense. That is why we decided on a much stricter approach this year, both to protect the city’s roads and to discourage unauthorised digging.”
The official stressed that the increased penalty is meant to safeguard the investment made in improving Mumbai’s road network. “We are spending huge amounts on making Mumbai’s roads better and long-lasting. If we allow constant digging, that investment will be wasted. Our aim is not to target any religious festival but to ensure the city’s infrastructure remains intact for years,” the official said.
Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray’s remarks have triggered a political storm, with supporters of the Ganpati mandals cheering his stand and criticising the government’s priorities. With the Ganesh festival approaching, the clash between the state’s infrastructure protection policies and the cultural practices of the city’s biggest celebration looks set to become a heated political issue.
Image Courtesy:
Related News
This article is based on publicly available information from credible sources (as mentioned above) and has been restructured using a combination of AI tools and manual editorial inputs to enhance clarity and readability. While we aim to maintain accuracy, there may be unintentional errors or misinterpretations. If you come across any incorrect or misleading information, please report it to us at info@bmcelections.com.
Copyright © 2026 All Rights Reserved | BMC Election