BEST clubs devotion with social causes

Ganesh mandals will make short films to spread awareness about the ills plaguing the city foeticide, addiction and play them in BEST buses along with Ganesha clippings Commuting during the Ganpati festival will not only be a devotional experience, but also one in which you will be flooded by do-gooder social messages.During the Ganpati festival, besides displaying images of Lord Ganesha,the BEST buses will screen short films with underlying social messages for the publicIn addition to displaying images of Lord Ganesha, the BEST buses will screen short films with underlying social messages for the public.Many of the 11,970 mandals in the city would make the shorts to be shown in the city's buses, spreading awareness about grave issues plaguing the society. Narendra Dahibavkar, president of Ganeshotsav Samanvaya Samiti, an umbrella committee of mandals, said, We want to spread awareness regarding various social afflictions and how one can curb them. This year, we will focus on saving the girl child, drug addiction among youth. We will be joining hands with NGOs in the city for this.He mentioned that Ladli Mumbai, an NGO fighting to end female foeticide would help he mandals.Dahibavkar added, The mandals would spread messages aimed at giving up gutka, no smoking and so on. They would mainly play in the buses commuting in the island city.BEST Committee Chairman Sunil Shinde said, Social messages are very important and it is a very good initiative. BEST's public relation officer N Walawalkar said, There won't be any live feeds from the mandals but we will have clippings of the deity along with the social messages they choose.Mobile safetyTo avert mishaps such as the one that occurred last year at Girgaum Chowpatty, wherein 19-year-old Siddesh Kanade lost his life due to an electric shock from a loose wire in one of the mobile toilets, BEST officials say they will take precautions.Dahibavkar had asked the officials to inspect immersion sites like beaches and lakes. Shinde said, BEST would have to take precautionary measures and keep a tab on contractors who set up the wiring.But Walawalkar said, It is the job of the mandals or the people who appoint the contractors to look after the public's safety. We would take measures from our side.