24 hours after High Court rap, BMC fails to restore Dia Mirza’s video on pollution-free Diwali

Bollywood actor Dia Mirza. File | Photo Credit: PTI Over 24 hours after the Bombay High Court directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to restore the video message of actor Dia Mirza’s appeal for a noise-free and pollution-free Diwali, the BMC has failed to do so. Sources in the BMC say they will study the court order and take an appropriate call on it. They refused to give a timeline for the restoration of the video. Meanwhile, the opposition and civil rights organisations hit out at the government for the lapse. Shiv Sena UBT demanded that the civic body should restore the video immediately.“The BJP regime is now blatantly disrespecting the Honourable Court. Firstly, it criticised Dia’s video because of her surname. The video was made for an appeal of the High Court order itself. Then the BJP calls her anti-national. For what? Raising environmental issues? Making a video appeal for a court order? The regime can’t handle the administration – be it the city or the country,” Shiv Sena UBT leader Aditya Thackeray told The Hindu on Wednesday (November 4, 2026).Civil rights activist Sumaira Abdulali, who has been working for the cause of noise pollution, demanded that the BMC should give an explanation about why it had pulled down a video which was recorded as per the directives of the Bombay High Court.“The reason they took it down was not explainable. They were only following the court order. How can a politician interfere in a court order? The second question is to ignore the order 24 hours later. The government is not respecting the court of law. The noise rules were made in the year 2000. The first orders started coming around in the year 2003. We have still not been following those court orders. The intention seems to be not to follow the court order in this aspect (noise pollution). Whether we are going to follow them or not is the real question. The record shows that we don’t,” she told The Hindu.She said that she was similarly targeted for raising voice against noise pollution. “Instead of following the court order, we are tarnishing people for other reasons, which is subverting the law. This is very brazen. But it has been happening for a long time. I have been targeted for years in the same way,” she said.Last week, the BMC had uploaded the videos of celebrities appealing to people to celebrate noise-free and air pollution-free Diwali. This was done as per the directions of the Bombay High Court. The celebrities who participated in the voluntary campaign included Madhuri Dixit, cricketer Ajinkya Rahane, actor Nishigandha Wad and UN Goodwill ambassador Dia Mirza.Soon thereafter, BJP Mumbai president Ameet Satam had publicly posted against Ms. Mirza, telling the BMC that they do not need her advice to celebrate their festival. This had led to the BMC pulling down the tweet. The Bombay High Court took note of this and expressed displeasure at the move. It directed the BMC to restore the video message of Ms. Mirza. The orders were issued on October 3 (Tuesday).BMC sources said that the law and judiciary department officials were busy on Wednesday (November 4) with the urgent demolition drive, which was held in Borivali. That drive was held after the Supreme Court had ordered the withholding of BMC Commissioner’s salary for the failure to raze illegal structures. “We will study the order and take a decision on it,” a BMC official said.In the order issued on November 3, the Bombay High Court has also asked the Maharashtra government if it can designate regulated timings for the bursting of firecrackers during Diwali to prevent health hazards and environmental damage. Published - November 04, 2026 11:14 pm IST