Bombay High Court allows BMC to use Shivaji Park for parking during Ganpati Visarjan

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday allowed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to use Shivaji Park ground to park vehicles during the three Ganpati visarjan days.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sonak allowed the plea moved by the corporation seeking permission from the court. The BMC will be using the park on September 2, 4 and 8 for parking trucks and other heavy vehicles which come for visarjan at Dadar chowpatty.

The BMC has been directed to use the parking only on visarjan days and ensure that no cricket pitches are affected. The traffic police and Mumbai police have been directed to file a report to the court ensuring proper compliance of the orders.

Wecom Trust, an NGO which has been fighting to protect Shivaji Park from being used for commercial use, opposed the BMC circular by saying, "On previous occasions, BMC had rushed at the eleventh hour to the court seeking permission. If they knew it well in advance that they would have to use the park then permission could have been sought months ago."

Counsel S U Kamdar, appearing for the corporation, said "Considering the large turnout of public on visarjan days, it would be essential for the corporation to use the park for crowd management and smooth passage of the visarjan. The court allowed parking with adequate safeguards."