Several residents of Mahul Village at Chembur are up in arms against the state government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Dilip Vengsarkar’s cricket academy, which already has a centre at Oval Maidan, will be a first for the suburbs
Several residents of Mahul Village at Chembur are up in arms against the state government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for altering the reservation of a 19,506-sq m plot from a garden to a playground so that former chief selector of Indian cricket, Dilip Vengsarkar, can start his cricket academy there.
The residents are peeved that the open plot may not be available to general public to play on, as the change of reservation would allow Dilip Vengsarkar Foundation (DVF) to use it exclusively for his club and also construct a changing room, and a toilet for cricket trainees and coaches. At his academy on Oval Maidan, his efforts to have a toilet and changing room for budding cricketers came up a cropper because of the ban on any construction on the site owing to the heritage status accorded to the maidan.
“How was Vengsarkar’s proposal to change the reservation even considered by the chief minister? Why should the reservation from garden be changed to a playground for one person? Why does he need such a big plot for the training centre?” asked Rajkumar Sharma, and AGNI activist from Chembur.
“It’s a garden plot. Only some people will play cricket if given to Vengsarkar. Why should the garden facility for 40,000 residents from Mahul, Anik and Vashi villages be sacrificed for a cricket training centre?” asked Ramesh Patil, resident of Mahul Village and president of Mahul Gram Hanuman Mandir Trust.
The citizens’ fight for open space has raged on in Mahul Village who recently submitted their objections to BMC’s chief engineer (Development Plan).
“The only silver lining in the BMC’s public notification is that it states that the RG /PG policy will be applicable, which means that there is a stay on the caretaker policy and one cannot allow constructions on an adoption basis,” said Nayana Kathpalia, convenor, Citispace, an NGO fighting for protection of open spaces in the city.
The civic body’s Improvements Committee has already passed the proposal for change in reservation.
b_linah@dnaindia.net
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}