Order to mar event as sponsors pull out

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, August 24

Dahi handi celebrations in Maharashtra are expected to be a low-key affair this year after the Supreme Court restricted the height of pyramids to 20 feet and banned the participation of those below the age of 18.

Prominent politicians, who boasted of offering huge prize moneys to the tallest pyramid in different parts of the state, have quietly scaled down celebrations as corporate houses have withdrawn sponsorships to the event. “The restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court has dampened the festival spirit,” Nationalist Congress Party leader Jitendra Awhad said in a statement. Known for hosting top film stars for his dahi handi event in Thane, Awhad is making do with a much smaller puja.

Though some organisers have filed review petitions in the SC seeking relaxations in the restrictions, it is unlikely that most of them will be able to scale up celebrations at short notice in case of a favourable outcome. 

“We need a lot of corporate sponsors who take care of the prizes, music, DJ, and the entire event,” says the representative of one organiser in suburban Mumbai. With the Maharashtra Government ordering all police stations to abide by the SC verdict, even the politicians who had threatened to flout the apex court order have quietly fallen in line.

Raj Thackeray’s MNS, which was the first to call for breaking the SC restrictions, has now said it would fall in line. Party leaders say they will be holding smaller celebrations and would take up socially useful projects like blood donation camps on the occasion of Janmashtami.