Laser lights, artwork on wall part of ₹4 crore Juhu beach beautification plan

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde in September allotted ₹1,700 crore to BMC to beautify Mumbai, with each of the 24 wards being given ₹30 crores to implement the project

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to illuminate and beautify the main and Gandhigram entrances of the Juhu beach at a cost of ₹4 crore as part of the Mumbai beautification project.

An aerial view of the Juhu Beach in Mumbai. (Mahendra Parikh / HT File Photo)

The K West ward of BMC, which comprises areas like Oshiwara, Andheri, Versova, Juhu and Santacruz, has floated a tender proposing seating arrangements at the main entrance of the iconic beach, installing laser lights, holograms and graffiti on the airport wall opposite the beach entrance.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde in September allotted ₹1,700 crore to BMC to beautify Mumbai, with each of the 24 wards being given ₹30 crores to implement the project.

While the tender notice released by the ward mentions five months for completion of the contract, an official from the K West ward said they are targeting to finish the project in 60-75 days after the tender is passed.

“Currently, there are no seating arrangements at the Juhu beach. We plan to add that at the main entrance. The seating arrangements will be decorated, and there will be plantations in between the seats,” the official said.

In 2017, BMC installed 100 light poles with special LED lights at the Juhu beach to make the beaches safer which received a flak from activists back then because it did not illuminate the area completely.

“Juhu beach is one of the few remaining areas where people can still see the moon and the stars and enjoy nature. Installing the seats and doing artwork on the walls are well within the rights of BMC,” said Sumaira Abdulali, a city-based environmentalist and convenor of the Awaaz Foundation.

“However, laser lights installations are totally environment unfriendly. The beach is full of biodiversity and light pollution is harmful for this. Safety and beautification are two different things. Laser lights and holograms will only add to more light pollution. BMC should first immediately come out with the lighting policy as par with international standards. We take light pollution for granted.”

Advocate Trivankumar Karnani, founder of the Mumbai North Central District Forum (MNCDF), a citizen welfare forum said, “BMC needs to have better planning for the beautification, haphazard implementation of the projects will do no good. Before initiating beautification projects, we need to clean up the Mithi river and combat illegal disposal of waste across Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Debris dumping is a common phenomenon near beaches. Oil spills in our oceans lead to tar balls being swept from the sea to our beaches. Decorating the cover of a deteriorating city will do no good.”

“ ₹4 crores is a huge amount of public money, if the BMC wants, it can have good citizen facilities at the beach with this amount of money, I am not sure what sort of laser lights and holograms are they looking at installing. It is all about the intention, whether they actually want to do a good project or whether the intention of BMC is to spend public money because they have it at their disposal,” Zoru Bhatena, an environmentalist and local resident from the area said.