Thane Ganeshotsav decoration contest offers ₹25,000 top prize

Registered Ganesh mandals in Thane have until September 10 to enter Thane Municipal Corporation’s Public Ganeshotsav Decoration Competition, which offers a top pandal-decoration prize of ₹25,000.

Application forms are available from the Information and Public Relations Department on the first floor of the corporation headquarters in Pachpakhadi. Mandals must submit completed forms there on working days between 11am and 1.30pm, or 2.30pm and 5pm. The corporation will not accept late entries.

The department is organising the competition and will assess displays during the festival until Anant Chaturdashi. Judges will consider pandal design, sculptures, cleanliness and the social message of each display. The corporation said it will disqualify entries depicting religious intolerance or controversy.

Pandal-decoration prizes are ₹25,000 for first place, ₹20,000 for second place and ₹15,000 for third place, along with a ₹10,000 consolation prize. Sculpture awards carry prizes of ₹10,000, ₹7,000 and ₹5,000.