<img title="Meenatai Thackeray Udyan in Andheri East. Pic/Nimesh Dave" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2017/jan/Meenatai-Udyan.jpg" alt="Meenatai Thackeray Udyan in Andheri East. Pic/Nimesh Dave" /> Meenatai Thackeray Udyan in Andheri East. Pic/Nimesh Dave
Another day, another public space being grabbed. Residents of Poonam Nagar, Andheri east, on Jogeshwari-Vikhorli Link Road have locked horns with the BMC over the civic body&rsquo;s decision to turn a municipal garden in their locality into a parking lot.
The Mahakali advanced locality management (ALM) had &lsquo;adopted&rsquo; the 9,458-sqm garden, Meenatai Thackeray Udyan, in 2000 and has been maintaining it since then. It claims that not once has any claim of neglect of the garden levelled against it.
It received a notice, allegedly out of the blue, from officials of the BMC&rsquo;s garden cell and the local ward office in 2015, stating that the verdant garden was to be handed back to the BMC. The notice allegedly didn&rsquo;t mention a reason for this decision. &ldquo;We followed up with the local ward office and found out that the garden was being taken over to create a parking lot for a BMC project coming up on the adjoining plot,&rdquo; said Vishwanath Shetty, trustee of the ALM.
Parking lot The BMC is spending R32 crore to create a craft village &mdash; Shilpgram &mdash; on the lines of Dilli Haat on a plot next to this garden. The garden has been marked as a parking lot in the project plan.
Members of the ALM said they have tried to meet senior civic officials in vain in hopes of saving this garden. Residents have also alleged harassment from the local ward office.
A senior civic official from the garden department said, &ldquo;It was the garden cell&rsquo;s failure in anticipating problems when the Shilpgram project was proposed in 2015. There was no space for a parking lot and an entrance gate. Now, it is eyeing the garden maintained by the Mahakali ALM.&rdquo;
Mere assurances Recently, members of the ALM approached BMC Commissioner Ajoy Mehta. In his absence, they had to raise their complaint with Deputy Municipal Commissioner Ramesh Pawar. Shetty said the meeting was fruitless. &ldquo;Pawar told us not to worry. He called the local ward officer and directed him to stop all action initiated against the garden. But, there has been no change in civic officials&rsquo; attitude; they continue to harass us.&rdquo;
In December last year, the ALM finally met Mehta, who, too, assured that the garden would not be taken over. &ldquo;But the garden cell&rsquo;s staff, the contractor hired for Shilpgram&rsquo;s work and the local ward office are continuing with the process of takeover. We have been threatened several times to hand over the land,&rdquo; alleged Shetty.
The Shilpgram began work on the parking lot and an entrance gate at the start of this month, following which the ALM members approached the police and succeeded in getting the work halted.
The ALM trustees were summoned by garden department&rsquo;s Deputy Municipal Commissioner Kishor Kshirsagar on Tuesday. At this meeting, too, the residents didn&rsquo;t get a positive response.
Despite repeated attempts, Kshirsagar was not available for comment.
Recreational ground The garden is used as a playground by children. The Mahakali ALM regularly conducts yoga and meditation workshops, talk sessions and karate classes for underprivileged children daily on the plot.

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Mumbai: Shilpgram to gobble up JVLR's best garden

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