Keeping an open mind is the first measure of open spaces

The BMC’s sudden invoking of an archaic rule that bars citizens from utilising parks for multi-purpose activities like yoga classes, children’s impromptu performances inside parks, stopping rehearsals at amphitheatres, and disallowing community workouts, defeats the very purpose of utilising an open space to its full potential.

Mumbai: The manner in which cities utilise their open spaces has a direct bearing on its residents’ quality of life. In Mumbai, starved as it is of space and recreational avenues, gardens or parks fulfil a critical need. In a city that is increasingly being colonised by gated condominiums, these open spaces also become a vital arena where people of all ages and classes co-mingle, creating the idea of the equal citizen.

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The BMC’s sudden invoking of an archaic rule that bars citizens from utilising parks for multi-purpose activities like yoga classes, children’s impromptu performances inside parks, stopping rehearsals at amphitheatres, and disallowing community workouts, defeats the very purpose of utilising an open space to its full potential. If the BMC were to be personified, the civic body would be that overbearing uncle everyone dislikes in the park.

The timing of the BMC’s move also couldn’t have come at a worse time given that the entire city resembles a giant excavation pit at the moment. By the admission of BMC’s own additional municipal commissioner (projects) P. Velarasu there are 3000 construction sites on in the city at present. Where then can Mumbaikars walk, run, play, exercise, be joyous? Babus have been known to be killjoys but imposition of this garden rule takes that term a bit too literally.

Communal activities contribute enormously to fostering cultural and social ties, they enhance public usage and value of that garden space which in-turn improves the quality of community life among local residents. The hallmark of an open space such as a garden is that it is a great social equalizer where senior citizens, men, women, children, the wealthy and the dispossessed can share a space with equal right.

What has always separated Mumbai from other Indian cities has been a certain laissez faire that allows people to be. While undoubtedly there must be law and order and undesirable elements must be kept out of open recreational space, walkers, joggers, prancing children or public performers don’t fall in that category. The best-known open spaces globally, in fact, encourage people to use them fully. Keeping an open mind about them is the true measure of open spaces.

In the absence of an open space policy or the deliberative wing of the BMC, it’s time the citizens demand a proper policy that defines and regulates park activities instead of ad-hoc bureaucratic rules that are out of step with citizens’ lived reality. The BMC should take a policy level decision to allow such recreational activities in parks and if required even monetise such activities. Municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal should let the public decide what should be allowed inside parks, as it’s the citizens who are the real stakeholders of open spaces and not the civic body.