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Salisbury park residents protest to restore original name of garden as BJP corporator renames it after late father
PUNE Residents of Salisbury park on Sunday staged a protest against the illegal renaming of the PMC garden in the locality
PUNE Residents of Salisbury park on Sunday staged a protest against the illegal renaming of the PMC garden in the locality.
The 3.5-acre garden, located near Gool Poonawalla park was inaugurated in November last year. A board was put up at the place with ‘Pune Mahanagar Palika Udyan’ written on it. Now, residents claim, BJP corporator, Shrinath Bhimale has illegally put up a board naming the garden after his father.
Earlier this month, the garden was suddenly renamed as ‘Late Prof Yashwantrao Bhimale Garden’ with a new board, said residents. An online petition demanding removal of illegal board of Salisbury Park’s garden was also started.
According to civic officials, as per a resolution, the corporators have been informed that naming public property after their kin is not permissible. They also claimed that it was approved at the ‘naming committee’ meeting of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
According to note written to local residents by activists, Bhimale on March 6, 2020 introduced a resolution in the PMC general body meeting to rename the garden after his father. The resolution was passed, though it wasnot made public, alleged an activist, who requested anonymity.
“Last week, Bhimale, pulled down the ‘Pune Mahanagar Palika park’ board overnight, and renamed it as Late prof Yashwantrao Bhimale garden. This is not only deceitful but it is illegal too,” stated the note.
Shrinath Bhimale said, “I fought for this garden for the past decade and approached the High Court and Supreme Court for the land acquisition. I also protested for it. Earlier, my wife was the corporator and now, I am representing the area. After becoming the leader of house in PMC, I took continuous follow up with PMC officials, while at the same time, we forcefully took acquisition of land from the owner. As BJP was the ruling in PMC, elected members approved resolution pertaining to my father’s name for the garden.”
The corporator said he doesn’t see local residents as his adversaries. “All citizens are mine and I don’t want to make any comment against them. We have followed the legal process to give this name. I am now planning to bring more developments in the garden.”
The garden has been developed on the lines of a topiary, with the trees and shrubs styled into shapes of animals and cartoons. There is a separate area for exercise with gym bars, a skating rink, flower beds, an amphitheatre and more
BOX
The battle of the garden
2004- PMC issued a notification to de-reserve a plot of land originally earmarked for a garden and handed it over to a local builder
2004- Residents protest and filed a case which went on for several years
2015- Bombay high court directed the PMC to pay ₹18 crore to the district administration and take possession of the land
2016- Land used as a dumping ground
2018- HC ruling was referred to a larger bench and the amount was increased to ₹76 crore
2021- Garden was inaugurated
