mumbai

Updated: Aug 23, 2016 16:42 IST

Following Supreme Court’s strictures putting restrictions on the height of human pyramids to 20 meters and banning participation of underage children in the celebration of Gokulashtami, popularly known as ‘Dahi handi,’ the Mumbai police will videograph all the venues this year. There are around 4000 small and big dahi handi organizers in the city with around 1000 considered as big players.

“We have already given them a conditional permission with the clauses mentioning strict action if they fail to follow the apex court’s orders. However, all the police stations have still been asked to conduct a strict vigil on the dahi handi celebrations in their respective jurisdictions,” said Ashok Dudhe, deputy commissioner and Mumbai police spokesperson.

The policemen will videograph revellers forming a human pyramid while continuously keeping a watch on the height restrictions, and if they find that the mandal is not adhering to the rules, they will stop the event. Further action will follow accordingly, officials said. The police began videographing dahi handi events in 2014.

For a watertight compliance of rules, the police will also be armed with decibel meters to check on the noise pollution levels. The officials said that along with the height and age restrictions, the noise levels will also be checked continuously.

“In case the noise levels are above the permissible limits, it will also attract action from the police. These things have already been told to the organizers, leaving no room for any surprises later,” added Dudhe.

The police have also issued legal notices to some mandals on the basis of their track records and blatant violations of rules in 2015. All the police stations had carried out a similar exercise last year and maintained a list of the organizers who did not pay heed to rules in 2015. They have already been served a notice this year.

The officials however said there were no exact figures of how many organizers were given a legal notice, that have been signed and stamped by the senior inspector of the concerned police station. The streets will see a large number of police presence on Wednesday on the occasion of Gokulashtami.

Police also issue notices to MNS

The police in Central region have issued notices to several MNS workers asking them not to violate the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.

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