Ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi, BMC issues advisory, urges caution

In its advisory, the civic body has urged devotees not to wait on the bridges for a prolonged duration, avoid dancing on them, and also ensure that fewer people take part in the immersion processions.

The bridges mentioned in the advisory are Ghatkopar rail over bridge, Curry Road bridge, Chinchpokli bridge, Marine Line bridge, Sandhurst Road bridge, and the Dadar Tilak bridge.

"These bridges are old and they have weakened. Repair works on some of these 13 bridges are going on, while the remaining will be taken up after monsoon. We want devotees to take precautions while using these bridges," a BMC official said about the decision.

Last year, BMC had issued a similar advisory for 20 bridges that were found dilapidated in a structural audit.

Meanwhile, the BMC has also urged Ganesh mandals in prominent areas such as Andheri, Juhu and Versova, to follow the concept of "One ward-one Ganpati," this time in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Vishwas Mote, the assistant municipal commissioner of K-West ward, made this appeal to Ganpati mandals through a letter, last week.

In another measure to reduce crowd during festival celebrations, BMC has disallowed people from immersing idols in water bodies on their own.

The civic body has instead set up idol collection points, from where they will later be immersed by BMC officials.

Notably, Mumbai is one of worst-affected Indian cities in the COVID-19 outbreak, with 1,32,822 confirmed cases and 7,314 deaths.