The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has received around 75 objections and suggestions to its new draft open space adoption policy, the last date for which was Tuesday, October 10.
The opinion of political parties, activists and citizens is unanimous: they want the civic body to scrap the policy, which allows adoption of recreation grounds and playgrounds with some riders.
BJP MP from North Mumbai Gopal Shetty has written a letter to S.R.A Chief Executive Officer Satish Lokhande. After the government removed the reservation, SRA prepared a plan under reservation in which MP Gopal Shetty requested to speed up the planning of playgrounds and other facilities for the citizens.
BJP MLA Ameet Satam has suggested that all plots currently in possession of individuals/institutions be taken back, and all RGs and PGs be maintained by the BMC with local ALMs appointed as watchdogs. Almost all former Congress corporators have also demanded that the new policy be scrapped.
Congress, Shiv Sena Opposes New Policy
The Mumbai Congress unit demands that the new policy draft on open spaces, or Recreation Grounds or Playgrounds (RG/PG) be scrapped. The new policy should only be implemented with the consent of the corporators or Nagar Sevaks.
On October 9, a team led by the city's president, Prof. Varsha Gaikwad, met with BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and delivered a memo outlining problems with the new policy.
The Mumbai Congress further stressed that it is illegal and harmful to democracy to approve the policy without consulting with the public representatives of more than two crore persons.
On this issue, Mumbai Live Team spoke with Abhishek Ghosalkar, Shiv Sena (UBT) Corporator Ward No 1, Director Of MDCC Bank Chairman Mumbai. Concurring with the Congress, he said, “If such big decisions are taken by the administration, it won’t favour people. Corporators are representatives chosen by the people and they are the ones who present the public’s side in the corporation. However, there are no existing corporators in the corporation as elections are not conducted. So whatever policy the government drafted, it should wait for elections and the policy should be implemented only after corporators are selected. No policy making decisions should be taken by the government unless elections are conducted. Even after elections, the decision to implement this new policy should be taken only if the majority of people agree.”
He further added, “If the administration takes a one-sided decision, then there is a high possibility that someone might take the matter to court and file a petition challenging the policy.”
BMC should not allow construction and should keep the land open to the sky and support events of sports and outdoor activities only, he added.
As of today's date, there are 1104 open spaces or plots in Mumbai. Out of these 1104 spaces, 1000 spaces are already developed by the corporation, and 53 sites are offered to developers. Now the chaos is all about the remaining 40 spaces.
BMC spent INR 1700 crores exclusively on beautifying, which benefits Mumbai residents in no way according to Gaikwad. The corporation should invest 350-400 crores in developing these open areas for Mumbai residents, which will be beneficial to them.
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