Mumbai | September 8, 2026
Mumbai’s annual Ganeshotsav traffic routes guidebook has not yet been issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, with about a week remaining before Chaturthi, the president of the BrihanMumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti (BSGSS) said on Monday.
Naresh Dahibhavkar, who addressed a press conference at the Mumbai Press Club near Azad Maidan, said the guidebook is usually released about a month before the festival. It provides public Ganesh mandals and devotees with information on idol arrival and immersion routes, visarjan points, public arrangements, emergency service numbers and BSGSS contacts.
The BSGSS, which says it has around 12,000 mandals as members, has raised concerns about the delay as large crowds are expected across Mumbai during the festival. Dahibhavkar said the Mumbai Traffic Police had assured the organisation that traffic diversions would be planned on key routes.
He also said illegal parking continued to narrow several roads used for idol movement. While traffic police were taking action, Dahibhavkar said towing and seizure could be more effective than monetary penalties alone. The comments came as mandals prepare for processions and immersion-related movement across the city.
According to Dahibhavkar, mandals had stopped reporting pothole-related grievances to the BSGSS for more than a week, which he attributed to rapid action by the BMC. He also said authorities and mandals were discussing arrangements linked to food safety, sound levels and idol height.
The BSGSS has sought clarity from the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration over requirements for mahaprasad prepared by mandals. Dahibhavkar said the organisation wrote to the FDA on August 12 asking whether specific standard operating procedures would apply, but had not received a response at that stage. The FDA has since scheduled a meeting with the organisation for Tuesday.
Dahibhavkar said the BSGSS supported legal action by the BMC and police wherever violations were found, including those involving idol height and sound levels. He cited permissible noise limits of 55 decibels during the day and 45 decibels at night under noise pollution and environmental laws.
He said Mumbai mandals had followed an 18-foot idol height limit for four years after 2008, but compliance later weakened. The BSGSS president said authorities could establish a similar regularisation framework again. Last year, he said, a senior police official had estimated that eight lakh people visited Girgaon Chowpatty in one hour during the festival.
