VIJAYAWADA: In order to avoid any untoward incidents ahead of Vinayaka Chaturthi, Vijayawada city police framed a new set of rules and gave additional responsibilities to the organizers of festival pandals. The festival will be celebrated on September 2.
All associations which will be celebrating the festival by constructing pandals will need to take necessary permit from the Vijayawada police commissioner’s office, city police said.
In the past, majority of the organisers celebrated the festival without taking requisite permissions. Hence, it posed a challenge for the police officials to maintain law and order and provide adequate security to the public.
“To avoid any confusion and commotion, all Ganesha pandal organisers have been told to get permission from the Unified Police Service Centre (UPSC) counter at Mahila police station near Ramesh Hospital on Bandar Road,” said commissioner of police Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao.
The police further made it mandatory that organizers obtain permission only after submitting a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the fire department, electricity department and the municipal corporation.
“The three certificates are mandatory and one police officer from every police station will act as a coordinator and will visit the place mentioned by the applicant. Only after their on-ground verification is done will the applicant be liable to keep pandals,” the Commissioner added.
In a circular issued by the Vijayawada police, Tirumala Rao made it clear to the organisers that they should not use loudspeakers and crackers during immersion of the idol.
He also said that the applicants should include all details such as height and weight of the idol, location of the pandal, vehicular strength of the locality and date of immersion in their application.