MUMBAI: In a city starved of open spaces, 20 BMC-owned plots earmarked as gardens, playgrounds and recreation grounds remain in the hands of private organisations, trusts and other agencies, as the civic administration awaits a new policy before beginning their repossession.
The plots, with a total area of 330,074 square metres, are spread across 11 civic wards and have remained under the control of various organisations for years, according to BMC data.
The process, however, was put on hold as a new policy governing the adoption of open spaces was being prepared. The adoption policy came much later. “These plots have been in possession for the last 20 years, and the agencies that adopted them are reluctant to hand them over. Then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had directed in 2016 that the plots be repossessed in phases, according to the official. “Priyadarshini Park has been in our possession for 45 years, prior to 1985.
Because there was no policy governing the adoption of open spaces, an official from the BMC’s gardens department said the civic body had been unable to reclaim the plots.
This is a policy decision,” the official said. A decade later, the draft policy is ready, and the repossession process will begin once it is approved, the official said. “The question is not merely why these plots have not been reclaimed, but whether the civic administration has allowed private interests to continue benefiting at the expense of public access and accountability,” he said. “Public land must be reclaimed for the public, not kept available for private exploitation under the cover of administrative delay or policy changes,” he added. However, some organisations in possession of the open spaces said their arrangements with the BMC predated the civic body’s adoption policy. We got it under a leave and licence agreement with the BMC,” she said.
