BMC goes round and round the garden

MUMBAI, JUNE 4: While urban architects prepare to do the biggest nose job on the city ever, ostensibly to beautify the western waterfront...

MUMBAI, JUNE 4: While urban architects prepare to do the biggest nose job on the city ever, ostensibly to beautify the western waterfront, the obvious solution to the suffocating congestion in Mumbai lies under the civic authorities8217; very eyes. However, given the municipal administration8217;s comatose response to the 300-odd gardens spread all over the metropolis, there appear to be more weeds growing in the civic Gardens Department than initiative. The only the initiative it has taken over the years in preserving, developing and maintaining these vast plots reserved in the city8217;s Development Plan is to insert sporadic advertisements in the newspapers and wait for sponsors to offer to adopt its gardens.

While the department cites paucity of funds as the reason why it cannot maintain these plots collectively it spends Rs 17 crore on maintaining8217;, them, its explanation sounds more like a trite excuse than a reason. Apart from offering free electricity and water to potential sponsors who may also charge thepublic a nominal fee, the BMC offers no incentives to either private parties, corporates or citizen8217;s groups to come forward. What is more disturbing is that the civic authorities don8217;t seem to care. Worse, they shrug off all responsibility, claiming that 8220;no one is interested in social service8221;.

Over the last three months, the Gardens Department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has issued three advertisements in the newspapers, Superintendent of Gardens, K L Velodi told Express Newsline. 8220;Still, not a single private party has offered to adopt our gardens,8221; he says. Usually, such advertisements are published once a year and Velodi feels that is enough. 8220;There is awareness but nobody wants to take on the responsibility,8221; he argues. 8220;What the city needs is people with initiative and it is gradually picking up. Private parties are adopting our gardens,8221; Velodi insists. 8220;But it is a very slow process,8221; he adds, hoping that a few years down the line, most of these municipal plotswill be adopted. 8220;We need to have patience,8221; he justifies.

What then is the solution? No one seems to know. 8220;Nobody has any suggestions. If people have ideas, they should let us know and make it really happen,8221; Velodi remarks.

Chairperson of the civic Improvements Committee, Dr A S Rao, says the BMC could allow sponsors to build parking lots under the gardens and charge a fee to recover the cost of maintaing the gardens. He suggested that the BMC should charge a lumpsum from those manning the parking every year. This will not only give a regular source of income for the BMC but also solve the problem of parking in the city.

But Velodi counters: 8220;Who will park cars under a garden in remote Deonar?8221; For the moment however, the administration has put this proposal on hold saying the BMC wanted organisations to maintain the gardens as a social service and hence they should not expect anything in return. They have however, agreed to allow the parties to charge an entry fee if their maintenance is foundto be satisfactory.

Velodi shrugs: 8220;I have personally written to private parties. There is nothing I can do now.8221; Apart from that, he says, he has run out of ideas to pursue the private parties to participate in the process. The incentives8217; for potential sponsors stop there. Maintaing a garden is an expensive affair and few will come forward to adopt them without monetary assistance from the BMC. The cost per garden could be as much as Rs 15,000 per month depending on its size whereas all the BMC offers is free electricity and water.

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Apart from costs, the procedure to adopt a garden is extremely tiresome, taking up to even a year just to get the paperwork done. Again, Velodi defends this, saying: 8220;People come with their terms and conditions and hence it takes time to process their applications. I can hand over a garden within two hours if they agree to follow all our guidelines.8221;

However, the BMC recently took a tiny step in that direction. Assures Deputy Municipal Commissioner ChandrasekharRokde, who holds charge of the Gardens Department: 8220;We have now simplified procedures so that a plot can be handed over within a month.8221; The Gardens Department has been instructed to process the pertinent files expedituously and private parties will have to pay only a nominal fee of Re 1 per year, he says.

This week, the state government cleared the western waterfront project of architect Hafeez Contractor, which involves reclaiming 400-odd acres along the coast at a cost of Rs 200 crore, to give the city a facelift, improve its lifestyle8217; and increase its oxygen cover. Critics say the same can be achieved by simply making use of the city8217;s natural resources, viz, developing the 300-odd municipal gardens. The point is, who will make it work?