Mumbai: Citizens prevail against underground parking lot at Patwardhan Park

The open plot at Patwardhan Park in Bandra, where an underground parking facility was being planned. File Pic/Shadab Khan

Another popular protest is about to yield fruit, with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) considering scrapping the tender for a controversial underground parking lot at Patwardhan Park in Bandra West. The civic body stopped floating the tender after 12 extensions and though no decision has been taken yet on scrapping the tender process, there will be a discussion on it in the coming weeks.

The BMC floated the tender for an underground parking lot at Patwardhan Park in March 2023. After a year-long protest from residents, the BMC has decided to scrap the tender due to local resistance. "The BMC is thinking of scrapping the tender for the underground parking due to local resistance. But no formal decision has been made yet," said Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani. A civic official said that the tender was not uploaded on the e-tender site. Though the BMC needs permission to allot a work order as the matter is in the high court, it doesn't need permission to scrap it.

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Citizen Speak

The residents and activists got a hint about the decision through local MLA Ashish Shelar during a flag-hoisting ceremony on Independence Day. "He visited Patwardhan Park for the flag hoisting and announced that the decision to scrap the parking lot would be announced in 15 days. Also, there is a plan to beautify the park," said Sandeep Shah, one of the residents who attended the ceremony on August 15. Shelar said that he had communicated with BMC officials about the issue and the decision would be taken soon. Zoru Bhathena, one of the leading activists for the cause said, "Each one of us has played a role to save the park. Many people have put in much effort, most of them silently."

Genesis of protest

It all started with a visit of P Velarasu, the then-additional commissioner, to Raosaheb Patwardhan Park in Bandra West and Pushpa Narsee Park at JVPD Scheme on February 2, 2023. He instructed that tenders be floated for the construction of underground parking lots at these open spaces based on local MLAs' suggestions. The residents of Juhu immediately started protesting against the decision, and MLA Ameet Satam also backed their agitation. Bandra residents were divided over the issue. The BMC floated tenders for Patwardhan Park for parking 288 cars with an estimated value of Rs 75 crore on March 6, 2023.

The protest of Khar and Bandra residents gathered momentum after the tender was floated. The residents participated in various cultural programmes and sports activities on the plot. Going ahead, Bhathena and two architects, Samarth Das and Alan Abraham, filed a PIL in the high court in the last week of April 2023 seeking that the BMC permanently restrain itself from constructing a parking lot or any other project of a similar nature at the park. The matter hasn't come for the hearing yet. The BMC extended the tender at least 13 times till March. Initially, the BMC was extending the deadlines by a week but then the period increased to a month.