‘Will march from Patwardhan Park to MLA’s office today’

Locals protest against the proposed parking lot on March 12. File Pic/Shadab Khan

Irked that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is pushing for underground parking at Appasaheb Patwardhan Park despite their opposition to the move, Bandra West residents will hold a march on Tuesday to gain an audience with local MLA Ashish Shelar. The civic body recently extended the deadline to submit tenders for the parking lot for the third time instead of scrapping it, which has ticked off residents and activists.

The BMC floated a tender to construct a parking facility beneath an open plot behind the park on March 6. The plot is part of Patwardhan Park. The BMC had similar plans for Pushpa Narsee Park at JVPD Scheme. However, following stiff opposition from locals, the corporation is considering other options and didn't float a tender for the JVPD project. But despite several letters and two meetings with BMC officials, Bandra residents have not received any assurance from the civic body.

The tender for building the facility was floated on March 6. File Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

The BMC has now extended the deadline for the submission of tenders to April 24. "This is the third extension. The BMC hasn't scrapped the tender process despite opposition from locals. So we planned a meeting at Patwardhan Park at 6 pm on Tuesday. We have invited MLA Ashish Shelar, all local ex-corporators and officials concerned from the BMC's traffic department and H West ward to the meeting. Despite sending several requests, the MLA hasn't given us time for a meeting. So if he is busy with other work we will march from the park to his office at KC Marg," said Zoru Bhathena, an activist.

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According to the BMC, the proposed three-storey underground parking lot will be able to accommodate 288 cars through a robotic system. As per the plan displayed in the tender notice, there will be two entrance roads and a roof above the garden and there will be rooftop grass and sideline plantation. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 75 crore. One of the residents said that while the BMC is planning for a lot for 228 cars, there are almost 400 parking spots available in the vicinity and people are not aware of them. "Even a car lift in a neighbouring mall was misused and encroached upon by other shops. The BMC officials are not willing to scrap their plan despite the facts," the official said.

"We had even invited them to visit Patwardhan Park to see first-hand what we are trying to explain. The civic body had first called a meeting on March 16 for interested bidders to get a detailed idea of the three projects and solve any doubts they had. However, it was cancelled and pushed to March 23, which was cancelled once again and conducted on March 31. mid-day tried to contact Shelar on Monday, but the MLA was out of town.

24 Apr
New deadline for submitting tenders