Cost-cutting corporates leave Dahi Handi festivities poorer in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Corporate houses— which are staring at a possible recession—are cutting down on sponsorship of events like the Dahi Handi and Ganesh Chaturthi festivals which are usually organised on a large scale in Maharashtra.

The Dahi Handi competitions, which take place as part of the Janmashtami festival, are facing the brunt of cost-cutting exercises

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, August 21

Corporate houses—which are staring at a possible recession—are cutting down on sponsorship of events like the Dahi Handi and Ganesh Chaturthi festivals which are usually organised on a large scale in Maharashtra.

The Dahi Handi competitions, which take place as part of the Janmashtami festival that falls on Saturday, are facing the brunt of cost-cutting exercises by the corporate sector and prominent politicians in the state.

“Many of the major sponsors have pulled out. A few companies are choosing the Ganesh festival because they get exposure for ten days. Politicians have backed off from Dahi Handi celebrations citing severe floods in Maharashtra," says Bala Padelkar of the Dahi Handi Samanvay Samiti which is the coordinates several mandals in Mumbai.

Members of the mandals go to various neighbourhoods looking to form pyramids for breaking pots containing curd which are strung up at great heights.

The prize money at these competitions ran into lakhs of rupees till the Bombay High Court restricted the height of the pyramids to 25 feet.

The court also banned the participation of minors and made it mandatory for all participants to obtain insurance covering injury and death.

"Several top politicians backed out after the restrictions came into effect. Now the competitions are organised by local residents where the prize money is very small," says Abhishek Gaikwad, a member of a Dahi Handi mandal from central Mumbai.

The Dahi Handi mandals suffered a major blow after BJP MLA Ram Kadam cancelled an event citing floods in Western Maharashtra.

"It won't look good to splurge money on a huge competition when people have lost their homes and livelihoods," Kadam told reporters here.

Another MLA, Sunil Shinde— who is organizing the Dahi Handi at Worli—said he was slashing the prize money by half while donating the rest to the victims of the Maharashtra floods.

According to Padelkar, many mandals will be at loss this year after spending “time and money in practicing” for the event since the past few months.