Pune Grand Challenge Tour 2026 - A Cycling Event or a Disaster?
The other day I wrote about huge amounts being spent in Pune for temporary beautification and dummy infrastructure development in the name of an international cycling event.
Adding to the interesting happenings so far, the District Magistrate of Pune vide order DMA/17/2026 dated 17th of January 2026 has declared a holiday on 19th of January 2026 for all schools and colleges in specific areas of Pune city, citing Section 34 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (along with Sections 25, 30 of the Act and another circular by the Department of School Education) for a cycle race organized by a private company on that day. Is this legally valid?
Section 34 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 speaks about powers and functions of the District Authority in the event of any threatening disaster situation or disaster.
Section 2(d) of the Act defines “disaster” as a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or man-made causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area.
Declaring a school or college holiday under Section 34 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 for a private cycle race may not be legally valid, unless the administration can demonstrate a genuine “threatening disaster situation” within the definitions of the Act.
A planned sporting event is neither accidental nor unforeseen, does not inherently cause substantial loss or destruction, and is well within administrative coping capacity (traffic control, law and order, crowd management, etc.). Therefore, it does not satisfy Section 2(d) of the Act.
How do Punekars look at this event? Certainly not as a disaster, I guess. In this case, should we ignore the possibility of misapplication of emergency powers by the highest authority in the district? As they say, “Give the devil an inch and he’ll take a mile.” (Disclaimer: Read the last sentence as an idiom and not as a literal statement.)
~ Mandar Shinde
17/01/2026
No comments:
Post a Comment