Pune: Former corporator names garden after CM Eknath Shinde, inauguration cancelled over objections

Though the inauguration of the garden by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde has been called off, he will still visit the garden and interact with the citizens, said former corporator Nana Bhangire.

After a citizen's group objected to the garden being called 'Eknath Shinde Garden', Nana Bhangire, the former corporator, "covered up" the board with that name with a piece of cloth.

Hours before Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde arrives in Pune Tuesday, the inauguration of a new civic garden by him stands cancelled as it ran into a controversy, according to a former Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) corporator. After a citizen’s group objected to the garden being called ‘Eknath Shinde Garden’, Nana Bhangire, the former corporator, “covered up” the board with that name with a piece of cloth.

Bhangire had himself put up the board in the garden in the Mohammadwadi area of Hadapsar to honour Shinde for becoming the Chief Minister. “Though the inauguration of the garden by CM Shinde has been called off, he will still visit the garden and interact with the citizens today,” Bhangire told The Indian Express.

Bhangire, who claims that he belonged to the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, said that the garden was set up by his family’s trust which spent Rs 10 lakh on it. “Two-three days ago, I had on my own put up a board calling the garden ‘Eknath Shinde Garden’. When Shinde was a minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, I placed the proposal before him… Now I have come to know that a citizen’s group is protesting over the naming of the garden. Therefore, I have decided to remove the board. I will now leave it to the PMC to decide the naming of the garden,” he said, adding that the chief minister had no clue that the garden was named after him.

“I should not have put up the board…I have already expressed my regret over it,” he added.

Bhangire said the garden’s land belongs to the PMC. “The garden has been set up on 16-guntha land belonging to the PMC. The land had sort of turned into a dumping ground. The residents had been protesting against it. They had been urging me to get the dump converted into a garden. Therefore, I took the initiative. Through my family’s trust, we spent Rs 10 lakh for the setting up of the garden. The garden also has gym equipment,” he said.

Activist Vinita Deshmukh, a member of the Salisbury Park Resident’s Forum, said: “When we learned that the garden has been named after the chief minister, we immediately took up the issue with him and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. I tweeted about the illegality of the issue…The CM has acted over and I have been told that he will not inaugurate the garden named after him. This is indeed a positive development. Otherwise, we have been fighting for months over the naming of a garden in the Salisbury Park area after a former corporator’s father but so far the government has not acted on it.’

Deshmukh said a PMC resolution passed by the civic general body over 20 years ago and also two years ago, clearly states that civic gardens should be named only after a national leader or environmentalists of repute.

Story continues below this ad

Besides the garden visit, Shine will inaugurate a stadium named after Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray Tuesday.

Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories