Mumbai: BMC could keep some gardens open 24/7

After months of brainstorming and bargaining the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has finally decided to do away with the threehour break in garden timings Following middays Garden Audit and campaign the civic body had last year extended timings but continued to keep gardens closed from 12 pm to 3 pm for maintenance In a meeting with NGOs and activists on Tuesday the authorities however decided to change this Over the past one year midday has consistently reported on citizens demand for allowing gardens to stay open for longer hours The BMC too finally agreed and is now even considering keeping some gardens open round the clock Other aspects regarding safety etc too were discussed at Tuesdays meeting while the BMC frames its garden policyAlso ReadDont give the gardens to commercial usersThe ratio of open space per capita in the city is quite dismal at 128 sq meter per capita And to make matters worse open spaces like gardens and parks remain available only in certain slots While the city has more than 1000 gardens and parks most of them only remain open from 6 am to 9 am and from 5 pm to 8 pm The timings are not uniform either Despite public demand surveys and reports the BMC was reluctant to keep them open for longer hours citing security and maintenance issuesFollowing middays garden audit then municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta enabled the 6 am to 12 noon and from 3 pm to 9 pm timings last year They remained closed for threehours for watering and sweeping How can the BMC decide when people should use public open spaces It is our right to have access to gardens and parks as per our requirement said Nayana Kathpalia trustee of NGO NAGAR who attended Tuesdays meeting on the garden policyAlso ReadMumbai Pali Hill takes over waste managementCitizens have demanded increased access to its open spaces File picA number of suggestions and objections came up in the meeting We have taken notes and will draft the policy accordingly said Ashutosh Salil joint municipal commissioner adding that the suggestion to open gardens from 6 am to 10 pm could be implemented immediately Gardens are public places he said and we will discuss the hurdles and precautions in the process of keeping them open longer An order in this regard was immediately released by Tuesday eveningAlso ReadBMC now open to suggestions about policy on Mumbais open spacesMeanwhile NGOs also spoke of the security factor We have demanded fencing proper lighting and security guards in the gardens The fencing shouldnt be concrete so one can see the gardens from outside said Prasad Khale conservation officer of the Conservation Action Trust24hour gardens nextEnvironmental activist D Stalin welcome the move saying If we call gardens public spaces then it should be open for maximum time BMC can enhance security using CCTV cameras etc Maintenance can be done in phases after restricting entry in one part at a time he said adding We are thankful to Praveen Pardeshi for this decisionPardeshi also recently decided to develop Miyawaki gardens on 100 sites in the city and the BMC is now considering keeping one garden in each ward open for 24 hours There will be some security issues but we can work on one garden in each ward If we can think of a 24hours market then why not access to public space a civic official insistedSome hurdlesAn assistant superintendent of BMCs Garden Department told midday that every garden had a distinct visitors group While most gardens see kids and their parents in the evenings morning hours have morning walkers Some gardens open as early as 530 am for Yoga groups while others near schools colleges office areas see people in the afternoon he explained while adding that keeping gardens open in the afternoon may see some hurdles People object to watering while they are inside There are also objections over couples visiting during afternoons Another issue is that of drug addicts More visitors will be a deterrent he added3hrsDuration in the day for which most gardens are currently shutCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates