BMC's goof-up led to open-air gym fiasco

It was an error of omission within the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s quarters that led to the Marine Drive open-air gym controversy

It was an error of omission within the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s quarters that led to the Marine Drive open-air gym controversy.

An inquiry report of the incident, released yesterday, pointed out that it was a communication error within the BMC’s departments that caused much embarrassment to the Shiv Sena, which rules the civic body.

Last week, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray had inaugurated two open-air gyms on Marine Drive. Barely 12 hours later, the ward officer of C ward, Sangeeta Hasnale, got the gym in her ward removed, calling it illegal.

According to the report, the gym had Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta’s nod. However, this wasn’t communicated to the ward officer, which led to the debacle.

While Hasnale had alleged that the gym did not have due permission from the department, the Sena had maintained that they had the civic body’s consent for erecting gyms on any two locations on the promenade.

An inquiry into the incident was ordered after the Sena started demanding Hasnale’s removal from the ward.

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