Pressure from citizens forces civic body to green up act……Sharad Vyas
Mumbai: Exasperated by the BMCs apathy in maintaining open spaces,parks and playgrounds,a small number of citizen groups and housing societies are playing a vital role in the race against time to save Mumbais green lungs.Over the last few years,the purchase notices served by these groups have helped build pressure on the civic body to hasten the acquisition of reserved plots.
Nayana Kathpalia,the coconvenor of NGO CitiSpace,said the little action the BMC has taken was precipitated by the citizens movement.We have been repeating the saga that open spaces are diminishing.We,as an NGO,have written about the issues to many chief ministers, she said.But one must not forget that the new Development Plan is in the process of being framed.So,there is that pressure as well.
Others,like Vidya Vaidya,are sceptical.We have seen in the past that purchase notices have been served, reminders have been served,and the time period to acquire them (open spaces) has lapsed.We used to think the BMC didnt have money then.After probing,we found out the BMC and the private parties were hand-in-glove.Also,the BMC is pushed to the corner since it hardly acts in time, she said.
Last year,14 housing societies in JVPD Scheme served seven purchase notices on the corporation,many of them to take over neglected playgrounds and gardens left in complete state of abandonment by the BMC.One of these plots was Pushpa Narsee Park.The notice for the park was rejected by the BMC since it was the rightful owner of the land.The episode shook the corporation out of its stupor.
In another case,a school trust managed to claim ownership of a 1,400-sq-mt plot reserved for a playground (PG) at RC Marg in Chembur.The BMC could have acquired the plotwhich had three illegal structures on itin 1997 at the market value of Rs 90 lakh.Instead,it approved the trusts purchase notice in 2010 when there were 51 illegal structures and the market rate had risen to Rs 4 crore.