Political parties can hold ‘meets’ on playgrounds

Devendra Fadnavis

Despite stiff opposition to allowing playgrounds for non-sporting activities, the Maharashtra state Cabinet has paved the way for political parties to hold rallies on playgrounds by amending rules so as to allow ‘public meetings’ to be held on such plots.

On Thursday, the Devendra Fadnavis-Cabinet approved a proposal put forward by the state Urban Development Department to amend the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966, to make this possible. Presently, section 37A of the MRTP Act, allows the state government or local civic bodies to give permission to any organisation or association to use the ground on special occasions for 12 days at a stretch or an aggregate 30 days in a year. These include celebrations held for marking Independence, Republic or Maharashtra day, other important national events, the birth and death anniversaries of national leaders and religious functions. By inserting the words ‘public meetings’ in the clause, the ground will now be thrown open for political rallies and functions. Moreover, the total number of days allowed for such non-sporting activities have also been increased to 45.

“Considering the paucity of open spaces, where the availability is merely 1.24 square metre per person in Mumbai as against the standard requirement of six square metre per person, this is an absurd move. Moreover, increasing the time period from 30 days to 45 days means that together with the three months of monsoons, playgrounds will remain out of bounds for children and general public for several months,” said Nayana Kathpalia, open space campaigner and trustee of NAGAR.

Shivaji Park resident Ashok Rawat, on whose proposal the Shivaji Park area was declared as a silent zone by the Bombay High court, said that allowing political rallies would mean that playgrounds would be dug up for setting up the pandals further rendering it inaccessible to sportspersons. “The sports policy of the previous government specifically said that due shortage of playgrounds, such meetings should not be allowed. This government thinks that it is more important to galvanise their voters than have sportspersons in this country,” said Rawat.