On the right track

If environmentalists and concerned citizens don't wake up to the pace at which the state government is dereserving land, Mumbai may soon ...

If environmentalists and concerned citizens don8217;t wake up to the pace at which the state government is dereserving land, Mumbai may soon lose its remaining green stretches to either builders or slums.

Even Pestom Sagar 8212; a complex of 110 residential buildings sandwiched between Chheda Nagar and Tilak Nagar in Chembur 8212; would have lost the vacant BMC plot in their area to hutments or a garbage dump if the residents hadn8217;t approached the civic body with a proposal for a children8217;s park and jogging track. Leased for five years at a nominal rate, the plot soon got a facelift and the project cost Pestom Sagar Citizens8217; Forum PSCF a whopping Rs 8 lakh. quot;The amount was beyond us and the BMC was ready for nothing more than the land. So we approached Mr Pramod Srivastava for MLA fund. He, fortunately, agreed,quot; says Dr Sandeep Rane, Secretary, PSCF.

Pestom Sagar Citizens8217; Forum was founded in 1991 when the residents foresaw danger in the unchecked rate at which the slums in their neighbourhood were expanding.quot;We couldn8217;t do anything with established hutments. After all we are law-abiding citizens. So we began with going out personally and removing the new hutments. For this we sought help from the police and the BMC,quot; says Rane. The efforts show. There8217;s no hutment in the vicinity of Pestom Sagar. quot;We have worked hard on it. For eight years it was our only goal,quot; says S Ganeshan, PSCF Chairman.

Now the association has more time to diversify into holding sports day in January-February every year and annual senior citizens day in October. quot;But the events are just for members. It8217;s not that we are biased, but we want to encourage more and more people to become members. This is directly proportional to our strength,quot; adds Rane. And with another project waiting to take shape, the body really need numbers. quot;There8217;s this four acres of land opposite Holy Family which is lying unused. We have asked the Salt Commissioner to give us the plot on lease for a green lung,quot; informs Rane.

The PSCF has already approachedIndian Oil and Bharat Petroleum for sponsorship and are awaiting a positive response.