Mumbai: Hanging Gardens will be restored without harm, says Deepak Kesarkar

The Pherozeshah Mehta Gardens reservoir, popularly known as the Hanging Gardens, can be restored without disturbing the iconic century-old garden, Guardian Minister (City) Deepak Kesarkar said on Wednesday, entering into the controversy surrounding the park at Malabar Hill in south Mumbai.

"We are not in favour of disturbing Malabar Hill. I have discussed the issue with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. We will also hold discussions with BMC officials for suggestions on how to restore the reservoir without disturbing the Hanging Gardens," Kesarkar said, adding that alternatively, the option of an overhead reservoir will be explored.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had decided to reconstruct the reservoir in February 2022. The project is expected to increase the reservoir's capacity from the existing 147.78 million litres to 191 million litres. The reservoir holds drinking water which is mainly supplied to south Mumbai. The work is to be carried out in phases over seven years and a deadline was set for 2029 end. However, there is a need to cut 389 trees in the garden to carry out the work and locals have opposed the move. Local MLA and Guardian Minister (Suburbs) Mangal Prabhat Lodha has held meetings regarding the Hanging Gardens in the past.

Reducing traffic congestion

Meanwhile, addressing the issue of traffic congestion in the Kalbadevi-Mumbadevi area, Kesarkar said that a visit to these areas found that goods are mainly transported locally by handcart, which is very labour-intensive work and adds to the congestion. "So the idea is to provide battery-operated carts to the handcart pullers. This will save their labor and the traffic congestion issue will also be resolved. For this we will hold discussions with experts from IIT Mumbai," Kesarkar said.

New boats for marine travel

Talking about other developments, Kesarkar further stated that the launches used to travel for short-distance marine routes are old. "We are working on replacing these launches with new ones and will discuss this issue with the Maritime Board," he said.

Visit to Worli Koliwada

According to Kesarkar, koliwadas are the identity of Mumbai culture and they need to be restored with an aesthetic view. "We have decided that there is a need to prepare special Development Control Regulations for the koliwadas," Kesarkar said. He added that he is going to visit every koliwada within the city limits. On Monday he will visit Worli Koliwada, which is a stronghold of Shiv Sena UBT MLA Aaditya Thackeray.

Pollution control

Kesarkar said the authorities are in discussions to check pollution in the city. "Pollution is mainly due to construction activity. We are going take major steps to prevent pollution," he said.

147.78
Current capacity of reservoir in mn litres