The civic body’s decision to allot half-acre land adjoining the Garware Balbhavan for a cartoonist art gallery has not gone down well in certain quarters of the city. Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) Standing Committee passed a resolution last week that the proposed art gallery would be named after late Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray.

With the scarcity of playgrounds plaguing the city, the director of the Balbhavan and the chairman of PMC’s sports committee have raised objections to the sanctioning of the land for an art gallery next to the Balbhavan. They contend that the land should have been given to the Balbhavan so that they could extend their current facility.