BMC kicks off process to take back open plots

“I am glad that they are acting following orders from the Chief Minister. We are ready to hand over the plot we adopted from the BMC. Since we have employed some staff, we hope they will give us some time to relieve them in a proper manner,”

said Nayana Kathpalia, trustee of an organisation which had adopted the Horniman Circle garden, one of the 36 plots the civic body is seeking to take back.

“The BMC can maintain the open spaces on its own. It has maintained Hanging Garden, Kamla Nehru Park and Cooparage Bandstand gardens very well. BMC has got enough funds. So, if they can maintain the open spaces here, then why can’t they do it across the city?” said Kathpalia, who has been very vocal over the issue of open spaces for over a decade. While Shiv Sena has maintained its silence over retuning plots its supporters have adopted, senior Shiv Sena leader and Minister of State Ravindra Waikar said he was ready to surrender the plot he had taken under the erstwhile caretaker policy, in Jogeshwari, from where the Matoshree Club operates. Waikar said, however, that the BMC should refund expenses incurred on the plot for its upkeep.

“I have written at least eight times to the BMC asking them to take back the plot from me. Since they don’t have a policy to take back the plots, they are asking us to first hand over the plot and then they will prepare the policy. The city civil court had also asked the civic body to prepare the policy. But it is yet to do so,” said Waikar.
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