Mumbai: People want gardens open 24X7

The civic body has declared new longer timings for gardens but Mumbaikars want more without an afternoon break Some have even demanded that gardens be kept open round the clockThe Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC last week took the long pending decision of keeping the cityrsquos parks and gardens open for longer Gardens are now open from 5 am to 10 pm with a break from 1 pm to 3 pm on weekdays There is no break on weekends and on national holidaysVeer Kotwal garden near Dadar station was surprisingly open even during the afternoon break of 1 pm to 3 pmldquoIn August 2019 after discussions with NGOs like LYP Mumbai Nagar Bombay Greenway the BMC had issued a directive to keep all parks open without an afternoon break They agreed maintenance can happen with the parks open through the day too But the pandemic hit and they closed all parks Sadly after the pandemic restricted timings were implemented and the BMC has now slightly increased the timing We should remind them of the August 2019 orderrdquo said Anca Abraham cofounder of LYP Love Your Parks MumbaiAlso read Mumbai lsquoTender says underground but plan eats up Bandras playgroundrsquoPrevious attemptsThe BMC was drafting a policy on the upkeep of gardens and playgrounds in the city and had got nearly 300 suggestions from citizens in 2019 The civic body took the decision to keep the grounds open round the clock but later withdrew it due to security reasons BMCrsquos Gardens Department had later published a post on Facebook to declare the timings of gardens from 6 am till 10 pm without a break But that decision was never implementedldquoSome people may worry about alcohol drug use in parks or issues with couples etc But parks should stay open through the day Many peoplemdashelders and youngstersmdashgo there in the morning till 12 pm and children can play there between 1 pm and3 pm so parks should be open for them then too The maintenance can be done while the park is open Plants cannot be watered while the sun is the hottest so the gardeners can do it early morning or at sunset Gardens can be kept open round the clockrdquo said Laura Aayesha an activistldquoThe maintenance can be done with people inside the garden and we donrsquot have any issue with it Regular works like pruning watering and sweeping can be done in phasesrdquo said an official from the Garden DepartmentldquoPatwardhan Park in Bandra used to be open till 1030 pm We regularly visit the park and wanted it to be open till 11 pm But now due to the new timing the garden attendant closes it half an hour early Why decrease night time The crowd is of elders and we havenrsquot faced any security or other issues for yearsrdquo said Ranjeeta Butani a resident of BandraldquoParks are open spaces Parks are public spaces Parks must be open all the time and accessible to all The problems happen because of the purposeful locking blocking and allowing them to fall into disrepairrdquo said Alan Abraham an architectStill old timingA few gardens however still follow the previous timing Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar garden in Bandra East is used by locals as well as visitors coming to the suburban collectorrsquos office Even during the afternoon when the park is closed for lsquomaintenancersquo people would sit around the garden waiting for it to open It was seen closed around 1130 am and 330 pmldquoEven gardens in Andheri and Vile Parle havenrsquot started following the new extended hours But they are open in the morning and evening And as exams are going on children are not keen to visit them in the afternoonrdquo said Abhijeet Samant former local corporator from Andheri west An assistant superintendent of the Garden Department said the decision has already been implemented in all gardens A few might have some issues but will follow in the next few daysVeer Kotwal garden near Dadar station was interestingly open even during the break from 1 pm to 3 pm and many people were sitting inside it