Japanese garden, playground for Mumbai suburbs under Development Plan

Mumbai city news: The DP — a blueprint for the city’s development over the next two decades — is yet to be approved (the original deadline to pass it was 2014)

A Japanese garden for Bhandup and a playground for Mulund — the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is planning to redo these two plots in Mumbai’s eastern suburbs under its Development Plan (DP) 2034.

While the DP — a blueprint for the city’s development over the next two decades — is yet to be approved (the original deadline to pass it was 2014), the civic body has planned to develop these two plots, which it owns.

The plot at Bhandup, officials said, has been encroached upon as it laid unused. The civic body is planning to create a 2-acre Japanese garden on this plot. A senior civic official said, “We have asked the departments concerned to remove the encroachments and develop a garden that will have Japanese aesthetics. We are designing a special pathway and a gazebo.”

On the 3.4-acre plot in Mulund, the BMC will develop a playground. One part of the plot will be developed by the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (MHADA).

READ: Mumbai’s 2034 Development Plan won’t be passed in May, BMC corporators may seek extension

In it budget for 2017-18, the BMC also allotted Rs2,000 crore to implement the DP 2034. The amount was to be majorly used for land acquisition and building, and maintenance.

For new amenities, the DP department allocated Rs20.51 crore for 26 new gardens and Rs26 crore for 18 schools. It also set aside Rs3.80 crore for waste-segregation centres and Rs2.85 crore for dry-waste processing centres. Rs 1 crore was allotted for the creation of a new fire station at Kandivili.

“By allotting a budget for the DP’s implementation, we are concentrating on creating amenities for the city. Be it schools, gardens, hostels or even waste-segregation centres,” a civic official said.

The BMC chief, Ajoy Mehta, had recently cancelled the garden department’s plan to spend Rs10 crore allotted under the DP budget on 18 plots just on maintenance. Instead, BMC is looking at creating more open spaces with the funds.

Apart from this, the BMC has also proposed a 0.65-acre open space at Chandivili farms in Kurla. Recently, BMC also took possession of a 12-acre plot at Veera Desai Road in Andheri to develop it as a sports complex.