Days after the celebration of the Ganpati festival with no curbs, the Shinde camp MLA Prakash Surve has appealed to the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to allow Garba-dandiya till midnight during Navratri across Maharashtra. He reiterated that the state government needs to allow Garba-dandiya till midnight across the state during Navratri.
When speaking to residents of Mumbai, few of them were in favour of late-night Garba celebrations, but most of them felt its unnecessary demand by the minister. The residents said the government should come up with guidelines for celebration, traffic supervision rules and crowd management.
A resident named Divya told Afternoon Voice, “We are very much excited about the Navratri festival and if the government permits till midnight, then we are happy as people could not celebrate any festival from the last two years.”
Another resident, Nidhi said, “The celebration of this festival is only for a few days so it won’t affect much but people have options of leaving early from the venue or staying back till midnight.”
While some people stated that there should be some management if the celebrations are allowed till midnight, A local resident named Sanjeev said, “There is no issue for the celebration of the Garba festival but there should be some arrangement for the traffic management.”
“Garba should be allowed till 10:00 pm during weekdays and if allowed till midnight then it should be only during weekends,” said a resident named Dhruv.
When asked by some students they stated that the celebration of the festival should be there but for a limited time frame and the government should not allow people to celebrate till midnight as this may disturb studies.
A student Aryan Narvekar told Afternoon Voice, “We are preparing for the SSC examination and we have to study so the celebration of the Garba festival should be till 10:00 pm.”
Another student named Amol said, “The festival celebrations should not be till midnight as people going to work even, they might face inconvenience to reach home.”
The Navratri Festival is all set to begin this year from September 26 till October 4 and also there are others which have allowed people for the Garba festival till midnight with no curbs some states have also started issuing identity cards for the people who would enter the grounds.
Prakash Surve, who was elected to the state assembly from Magathane constituency in north Mumbai, said that Navratri is being celebrated from September 26 to October 4 adding that Gujarat, Rajasthan and other states allow Garba-dandiya up to midnight. Therefore, he urged the CM to permit Maharashtra too for playing Garba-dandiya up to midnight.
“After the Shinde-Fadnavis government came to power it removed all restrictions which paved the way for the grand celebration of Dahi Handi and Ganapati festival after almost two years in the state,” said Surve. He pointed out that the Garba-dandiya is being organised in the state and in North Mumbai in which people from all religions participate.
