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| Mumbai battles open space jam |
| It kills the last remaining open spaces of land, which could give this city the breathing space it badly needs.
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| INDIA
, 21-November-2007
0:47:40 AM |
| Mumbai is a city bursting at the seams with every inch of open space worth killing for.
And the Mumbai municipal corporation's amendment to its policy on development of open spaces does just that.
It kills the last remaining open spaces of land, which could give this city the breathing space it badly needs.
BMC's new policy gives away all open spaces larger than 15,000 square metres for construction of clubs, gymnasiums and other facilities on a quarter of the plot area.
These are facilities, which will be exclusive to members, though the open area will be available to the public.
This puts about 82 plots of land for sale in the city from the 608 open pieces of land.
According to the earlier BMC policy, maidans had to be first offered for adoption so resident associations, NGOs, corporates could take them over for maintenance.
No construction except a gardener's chowkie was to be allowed. If there were no takers, the plot could be given on a 'care taker' basis for construction of clubs on 25 per cent of the land.
But the abolition of this scheme has activists fuming.
''BMC has all the wherewithal. It has the power, the finance every thing. They can very well take care of the spaces. If not then adoption is the best way, but caretaker to me is a big sham,'' said Punj, Convener, Cityspace.
The BMC administration is, however, defensive saying that adoption is not lucrative and plots get encroached if not developed.
''These will not be private clubs. They will be public clubs where people will be able to use 75 per cent of the land even BMC charges for facilities like its swimming pool so why should they not charge,'' said Bhalchandra Shirsat, Corporator, BJP.
It's better to build and barter away than get buried under encroachment by admitting that it cannot protect open spaces from encroachment.
The BMC is failing in its statutory duty as civic body because BMC is actually meant to be the caretaker of the city.
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