Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde’s appeal for safer firecracker use has triggered a political dispute over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s earlier removal of a similar safety message featuring actor Dia Mirza, even as the city deals with fire incidents linked to fireworks.
In a public message issued on Monday, Tawde urged Mumbaikars to ensure that celebrations did not put other people at risk. Referring to fires reported across Mumbai over the previous two days, she said, “Mumbaikars’ reason for celebration should not become someone else’s reason for sadness. Safety must be our priority.”
The mayor cited directions from the Bombay High Court and asked residents not to burst crackers on footpaths or in public places. She also cautioned against rockets and other aerial fireworks, saying they could stray into homes, damage property and endanger lives. Residents were advised to use firecrackers away from residential buildings and other inhabited structures.
The appeal drew criticism from opposition leaders, who pointed to its similarity with a video message by Mirza that had earlier been posted on the BMC’s social media handle and later removed. The civic body has not re-uploaded the video, according to the Times of India report.
AIMIM leader and spokesperson Waris Pathan said Mirza’s message had conveyed the same safety advice. “Mirza, in her video appeal posted on the BMC’s social media handle, had also said the same thing. However, back then, the mayor came out objecting to it, and the BMC has yet to upload her message on its handle,” he said.
Congress corporator Ashraf Azmi said opposition members had sought explanations from the BMC administration and the ruling BJP over the objection to Mirza’s message but had received vague responses. He questioned why the actor’s appeal had been treated differently when the mayor was now making a similar request to residents.
Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh also questioned whether the objection had been directed at Mirza’s environmental message or at her identity. NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) national spokesperson and secretary Clyde Crasto accused the BJP and the mayor of turning a public safety message into a communal issue. These claims were made by opposition leaders and were not independently established in the report.
BJP Mumbai chief Ameet Satam had earlier criticised Mirza over her public plea to avoid fireworks. On Monday, he did not refer to firecracker pollution in the social media posts cited in the report. The BMC removed the post featuring Mirza’s appeal shortly after publishing it approximately a week earlier.
The safety concerns have also been raised by filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, who said an errant rocket had set fire to a sofa on his balcony the previous night. He said his dogs alerted his family and that fire-resistant fabric helped prevent a potentially serious accident. Agnihotri described errant rockets as a fire hazard and called for enforcement of court directions, stronger awareness efforts and investigations into the reported fires.
Tawde’s latest message places responsibility on residents to avoid public places and inhabited areas while using firecrackers. The political dispute now also concerns how the civic administration communicates safety guidance, whether court directions are enforced consistently and whether the BMC will restore the earlier video appeal to its social media channels.
