Mumbai: Interim open spaces policy cleared by the Improvements Committee

Improvements Committee allows resident associations or corporate firms to maintain plots for 11 months, provided they follow the civic body’s norms.

After months of speculation and the BJP’s flip-flop on whether private parties would be allowed to maintain public grounds, the BMC’s open spaces policy was approved by the Improvements Committee Wednesday. It will now be tabled in the general body meeting for final approval.

The proposal of the policy, which was approved in the group leaders meeting in October, allows resident associations or corporate firms to maintain plots for 11 months, provided they follow the civic body’s norms. The rules bar the caretakers from allowing construction on the spaces, using them for commercial purposes or political events, or handing them over to a third party. They also mandate non-discriminatory and free access to the public as per the timings prescribed by the BMC.

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Though the proposal was passed with the support of the ruling Sena-BJP, the opposition Congress, NCP and Samajwadi Party raised objections to it. “The approval of this proposal is simply for the sake of appearance. When the same parties sat in the standing committee and passed proposals to appoint contractors for the development and maintenance of the open spaces, how can they also support the interim policy that hands plots back to private organisations?” said Congress corporator Mohsin Haidar.

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Haidar pointed out that the open spaces proposal had been passed by the general body once before in January, which was then stayed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He had directed the civic administration to take back all the open spaces. “They took the plots back from citizens’ groups, but when it came to taking them back from groups controlled by the Sena and BJP politicians, they came up with this interim policy. This high-handed approach of the ruling parties clearly indicates that there will never be a proper policy,” he said.

Defending the decision, BJP corporator and chairman of the improvements committee Prakash Gangadhare said the initiative was only a temporary one. “This policy allows an organisation to maintain a plot for a period of 11 months as long as they follow conditions mandated in the agreement. This way the plots will be better maintained,” he said.

Gangadhare added that the proposal has been passed with suggestions stating that a committee would be formed comprising of the additional municipal commissioner, the chairpersons of the improvements committee as well as markets and garden committee, which will decide the allotment of the plots.

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