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VISAKHAPATNAM, ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA, August. 29, 2003: Ganesh Chaturthi celebration committees in the city are disappointed by all the restrictions imposed on them by the police, municipal corporation and the Eastern Power Distribution Company. Most of the festival committees have decided to reduce the celebrations to three or six days, from the regular nine or 11 days. The municipal corporation issued orders to the Ganesh Utsav committees not to dig roads for pegging tents. They can only use tar drums to plant sticks to support the tents. City Planner P. Thimma Reddy told the Deccan Chronicle that the committees would be fined if they damaged the roads. The Eastern Power Distribution Company officials have been warning house-owners against allowing their power connections to be used for the Ganesh Utsav tents. People seeking to celebrate the festival should take Tatkal connections, paying between US$31 and $61 depending on their consumption. While agreeing to obey police orders and take mike permission for $2.08 per day for every pandal (tent), the Utsava committee convenor Baliwada Ravi Kumar said the committees would fight the municipal corporation authorities on not digging roads. He told the Deccan Chronicle that “It is impossible to pitch a pandal for more than a week without standard supporting posts from the ground.” The city police has warned Ganesh Utsav committees against dancing to recorded music, using double-meaning dialogue during the Hari Kathas, obstructing traffic or inconveniencing people with noise pollution. Ravi Kumar said donations had decreased due to the rise in the number of Utsav committees, the localized donation system and police restrictions.

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