Pandals to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi and Navratri are a means of ‘extortion’

The Bombay High Court has made a very relevant observation about how festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri are celebrated by erecting pandals in public places. The HC has termed it as a means "just to extort money" and has added that in Puri (Orissa), the annual rath yatras take place on roads.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 29 August 2015.

The observations were made while the bench was hearing a petition by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon), seeking permission for holding a rath yatra at Shivaji Park. The judges have observed that holding it in Shivaji Park will damage the cricket pitch.
In the opinion of the judges, these pandals are nothing but a method of extort money. Celebration of festivals in open spaces of the city should be stopped. These should be held at one place in each ward instead of at thousands of places. It is impossible for people living in and around the places and near immersion sites to sleep well.
Incidentally, in Kolkata there are hundreds of pandals erected to celebrate festivals like Durga Puja and Kali Puja and people who live near these pandals have to bear with the crowds plus sound of blaring microphones. And – the organizers mint millions through hoardings of advertisements that are put up all around the venue. Many of these pujas are more than 50-years old!!
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)


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