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  Raj Thackeray plans six-tier Dahi Handi in Shivaji Park

Raj Thackeray plans six-tier Dahi Handi in Shivaji Park

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Aug 25, 2016, 7:11 am IST
Updated : Aug 25, 2016, 7:11 am IST

The Supreme Court’s refusal on Wednesday to modify its order, capping at 20 feet the height of human pyramids in Dahi Handi festival, failed to budge Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thacker

The Supreme Court’s refusal on Wednesday to modify its order, capping at 20 feet the height of human pyramids in Dahi Handi festival, failed to budge Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray from his plans of flouting norms on Thursday. As per sources, Mr Thackeray plans to celebrate the festival by getting a six-tier Dahi Handi formed outside his residence in Shivaji Park. MNS will form a similar Dahi Handi in Thane.

Sources in MNS said that at the two places, the party is going to form more than four-layered Dahi Handis. “I stand by my views. The court should not have intervened in the matter and the state government should have kept its side before the court properly. The festival should be celebrated,” Mr Thackeray said on Wednesday.

At the same time, the city police have asked organisers of Dahi Handi festivities to abide by the Supreme Court guidelines during Janmashtami on Thursday, failing which appropriate action will be taken against them. While some politicians, who organised Dahi Handi in a big way year after year, have backed out this time,

Mr Thackeray is determined to defy the apex court order. Refusing to take the responsibility of following the court’s norms, one of the organisers and BJP MLA Ram Kadam said that Govinda mandals could not be controlled during the festival.

On the police taking action against those flouting the court’s order, Mr Thackeray said, “That, can be seen later. Let’s see what action they would take. There are 600 govinda mandals and their thousands of members. How would the government machinery take action ”

The police have issued guidelines to Govinda mandals and deployed around 30,000 policemen, which forms 90 per cent of its force, to ensure safety during Dahi Handi festival.

According to police officials, they have given permission to as many as 3,387 mandals for Govinda celebration, along with the instructions to stick to Supreme Court's guidelines and ensure no rule violation. Top city police officials also informed that they would record videos of the celebration to make sure rules were followed. Cases will be registered against offenders.