JVPD residents oppose plan to construct parking lot beneath park

Furious that their park will have to go and be rebuilt on a concrete plot, residents have formed an action group on WhatsApp called ‘Park, Not Parking, at Pushpa Narsee Park, JVPD’. The nearly 200 members are deciding on their future course of action, and have decided to meet in the same park on Sunday to take this further

Mumbai: Municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal in his budget speech had announced the imminent construction of two new underground parking lots at Bandra West and Andheri West. With the BMC revealing that one of the two lots will be built beneath Pushpa Narsee Park at Juhu-Vile Parle Development Scheme (JVPD), all hell has broken loose among residents of the area.

Pushpa Narsee Park, which is spread over 7,000 square meters, has a cycling track and a jogging track. A lot of activities are held here, including a weekly farmers’ market. “The park also functions as a sponge during torrential rains. But instead of revamping defunct parks in the city, the BMC wants to create parking lots below existing beautiful gardens.” (Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

Furious that their park will have to go and be rebuilt on a concrete plot, residents have formed an action group on WhatsApp called ‘Park, Not Parking, at Pushpa Narsee Park, JVPD’. The nearly 200 members are deciding on their future course of action, and have decided to meet in the same park on Sunday to take this further.

Pushpa Narsee Park, which is spread over 7,000 square meters, has a cycling track and a jogging track. A lot of activities are held here, including a weekly farmers’ market.

Local resident and architect Nitin Killawala rubbished the proposal and said the residents would go and meet the municipal commissioner “before the BMC lands up to cut trees here”. “This park and the trees on it are nearly 60 years old,” he said. “The park also functions as a sponge during torrential rains. But instead of revamping defunct parks in the city, the BMC wants to create parking lots below existing beautiful gardens.”

Samarth Das, also an architect and urban planner, said that as the garden was triangular in shape, it would yield very few parking spaces, and thus it made no sense to build a parking lot beneath it. “We need to focus more on planning with Nature, as Nature is our only hope,” he said. “There are already very few open spaces like parks and gardens left in Mumbai.”

Residents feel that the road adjoining this park has enough parking space, and if needed, it makes more sense for the BMC to construct an underground parking below the roads instead of the park. “Why doesn’t the BMC build parking lots below all its ward offices if there is a need?” they said sarcastically. “Just leave our park alone.”

Additional Commissioner (Projects), P Velrasu, when contacted, said there was a huge demand for parking in the city and hence the need for underground parking lots. “As far as the park is concerned, we have already done a survey, and are planning in such a way that minimum trees will be cut,” he said. “Once the parking lot is constructed, the park will be immediately and fully restored to its original condition.”