CHANGES IN CARETAKER NORMS UPSET GREENS
Controversial policy on open spaces tweaked …….Sharad Vyas
Controversial policy on open spaces tweaked …….Sharad Vyas
Mumbai: Amid criticism and fear from citizens groups and greens over the revival of the controversial caretaker policy, the BMC has tweaked it to add fresh clauses to make it more transparent and free of commercial and vested political interest.
The new changes will now be added to the existing policy, which allows private players to develop public open spaces and restrict entry to the public. The changes will be tabled before the civic chief this week.
The new guidelines, however, have failed to win over citizens groups that have been campaigning to protect the citys greenery and open spaces. These groups are in favour of the BMC maintaining the ground without the involvement of private players.
We have always been demanding to scrap the policy totally. The contention is not about transparency, it has always been about giving away of reserved public open space for commercial use. This is a do-or-die situation otherwise we all will lose our remaining open spaces to political and commercial interests, said coconvenor of Citispace, an NGO, Nayana Kathapalia.
The issue snowballed into a major controversy after the state and BMC allowed the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to continue construction activity on a Kandivli park allotted to it on caretaker basis. The BMC argued that allotment was made before the stay was announced.
But the BMC feels the changes it has made will go a long way in making the system more transparent. The two most important changes, officials said, were that preference would be given to citizens groups like advanced locality managements while allotting open spaces. Secondly, a sort of bidding process would be put in place to ensure only best proposals were selected while giving out chunks of open spaces.
The draft policy is ready and will be tabled this week before the civic chief, said a senior official. After it is approved, the revised policy will be tabled before the civic statutory committee for further approval. The policy will then be forwarded to the state with a request to vacate the stay as early as possible.
The caretaker policy allows for the allotment of public open space to private players on lease for maintenance; the policy further allows construction of amenities on 25% of the land.