Welcoming the CM’s decision, Vidya Vaidya, core committee member of Citispace, an NGO fighting to save open spaces, said, “It is an excellent decision by Chavan. This will bring in more transparency into land records.” Vaidya added that plots reserved for schools and hospitals should not be de-reserved at any cost.
Chavan rejected the argument put up by the municipal corporations, saying that there were already educational institutions near the plots concerned so there was no need for more, the official stated. “The plots might not be of any use today but with rising population, you would need to construct a school there tomorrow, where will we then go scouting for land? We have to think and plan for the future,” was the justification given by Chavan for refusing to change the status of these plots, the official pointed out.
According to global norms, for every 1,000 people, there has to be an open space of 4 acres. However, Mumbai’s open space-to-people ratio is one of the lowest in comparison to other cities in the world. A two-decade-old survey shows that Mumbai’s ratio is 0.03 acres for every 1,000 people.