Patwardhan park parking row: No help from BMC or local neta, Bandra residents move high court

With the BMC and local MLA ostensibly unwilling to take cognisance of Bandra residents' opposition to the civic body's decision to construct a parking lot under Patwardhan Park, activists have filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court against the move. The hearing will be held in June. The petitioners have told BMC to halt its plans or they will be compelled to move the vacation bench.

The BMC floated a tender for an underground parking lot next to Balgandharv Rangmandir on March 9. Activists and residents have been vocal in their opposition to the plan, stating that are many unused parking lots in the vicinity and there is no need to destroy an open space.

Bandra residents gather to discuss the proposed parking facility at Patwardhan Park on March 12. File pic/Shadab Khan

Activist Zoru Bhathena and two architects, Samarth Das and Alan Abraham, filed a PIL in the high court on Wednesday seeking that the BMC permanently restrain itself from carrying out any excavation or removal of natural earth or mud for the construction of the parking lot or any other project of a similar nature at the park. The PIL claimed that the civic body's decision is arbitrary as no alternatives have been considered and could lead to the loss of a natural sponge that protects the flood-prone surrounding regions up to SV Road and prevents large-scale urban flooding.

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The petitioner informed the court that the municipal corporation had also planned to construct an underground parking lot below the park in 2018-19 but it was shelved on account of public objections and outcry. The PIL also mentioned that the roads and traffic department of the BMC wrote a letter to H West ward on November 25, 2022, disclosing that the municipal commissioner had directed that plans for constructing a parking facility at Patwardhan Park be reviewed and that the tender be issued within 15 days.

On April 5, there was a meeting with a few citizens and, as requested by H West ward, detailed objections were mentioned by petitioners. "But instead of scrapping the tender, the BMC has extended the submission dates, confirming its intention to proceed with such an illegal plan/tender," claimed the plea. Bhathena and Abraham claimed to have personally visited every commercial building within 150 metres of the park and counted the spaces available for four-wheelers to the best of their ability.

"In the immediate vicinity (within 150 metres) of Patwardhan Park, there exists over 500 officially sanctioned car parking spaces for mercantile establishments. However, the petitioner observed that almost 400 of them are lying unused or are encroached upon.

They argued that BMC's parking authority had incorrectly stated that there were only 276 and 182 parking spots for four-wheelers and two-wheelers, respectively, within a radius of 500 metres of the park.

The PIL also mentioned that Mumbai Climate Action Plan, which was released on March 2, 2022, identified the reduction of the sequestration capacity of natural ecosystems as the cause of urban flooding in Mumbai.

"Parking in a Town Planning Scheme on recreational grounds is not permissible," said petitioners, seeking directions to the BMC to refrain from proceeding with the tendering process.

Meanwhile, the petitioner has also written a letter to the BMC informing it about the PIL. In a letter to the municipal commissioner and departments/ officials concerned, the petitioner requested a halt to the plans to "destroy Patwardhan Park".

The letter reads, "If you continue with the execution of your plans during court vacations, we shall be constrained to move the vacation bench of the HC."

Meanwhile, BMC officials are in the process of changing the three-level underground lot to a two-level one and the tender submission date has been extended to May 5.

P Velrasu, additional commissioner, refused to comment on the matter. Civic administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal, meanwhile, told mid-day he would look into the matter.

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