This Ganeshotsav, if you see mandals promoting tobacco products through advertisements and hoardings, one phone call to the city’s civic authorities will be enough to cancel the mandal’s licence.
For the first time, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has included the regulations of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COPTA) 2003, for granting licences for Ganesh mandals.
The 11-day festival attracts a huge turnout of devotees. A combination of legislation and public support will help curb surrogate advertising, said Aseem Gupta, additional municipal commissioner, at a press conference launching the `Tobacco Free Ganesh Mandal Competition, 2011′ in the city on Tuesday. The competition is an effort to garner public support, whereby the BMC has collaborated with Smoke Free Mumbai (SFM) campaign and the Brihan Mumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti, the umbrella body of all city mandals, to promote a tobacco-free festival.
India has the highest incidence of oral cancer in the world, which is directly attributable to tobacco use, said Dr Surendra Shastri, chairperson, SFM campaign. Using the festival as a medium to promote the ill-effects of tobacco consumption will help spread the message to a larger section of people. This year, mandals will compete for prize money amounting to nearly Rs2 lakh. For mandal owners worried about losses they would incur by rejecting sponsorships from tobacco companies, the Samanvay Samiti has come up with a peoplebased solution. By choosing the cause over the commercial benefits, mandals are doing their bit in saving the city. The devotees could donate Rs50 to Rs100 at mandals they feel are adhering to the conditions laid down, said Naresh Dahibawkar, chairperson of the Samiti. Last year, we had 54 mandal entries for the competition; this year, we are hoping to cross 250 entries.