Pay and park

With public parks and gardens in various stages of neglect, Mumbai’s citizens prefer to create clean, safe spaces for their children to play in. Or pay for the use of those that are privately maintained.

It is the week after Ambedkar Jayanti and Shivaji Park is littered with the debris of the December 6 rally.

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Along its periphery, some puddles still stagnate at the site where makeshift public toilets were set up to accommodate the thousands who congregated here to pay homage to Dr B.R. Ambedkar.

The park, spread over approximately 28 acres, making it Mumbai’s largest, was once considered the cradle of Indian cricket because of the number of young cricketers who trained here.

Standing on the periphery wall with her nine-year-old son Advait, advocate Sharmilee Purav faces a dilemma: Should she give in to her son’s pleas to be coached in cricket here or heed her fear of the dangers that lurk in the park.

“Look at it,” says Purav, a Mahim resident, “there is not a blade of grass in this park. There is no maintenance and stray dogs run all over; I am worried that Advait may get injured or bitten. Also, all sorts of people hang around here.”

Her apprehensions are not misplaced. As I walk around the park, I spot two people urinating in public. A vendor sells golas (ice candy) from a handcart; another hawks chaat. A little ahead, three young men sit on the parapet near the Nana-Nani Park, sipping beer from bottles. Stones, large and small, litter the space. Some six months ago, a boy who was practising cricket tripped over a hole and damaged his knee seriously.

“I have seen drug addicts and drunks lying here. I could not let my girl come here alone,” says Manali Gupte (52), a housewife from Matunga on her evening walk. When her daughter Anshika was growing up, says Manali, she never let her play here unsupervised.

This is the state of one of Mumbai’s best-known and most-used open spaces.

it’s your right

Most of the few open spaces that have not been usurped by builders are in a state of disarray. And unless the Advanced Locality Managements (ALMs) are vigilant, parks and gardens earmarked for recreation soon become dumping spots or dens for drug addicts and drunks.

Neera Punj, convenor of Citispace, an NGO fighting for open spaces in Mumbai, has helped many residents’ associations lobby with the civic authorities to reclaim their open spaces. Says Punj: “It is not possible for an individual to fight the BMC. Residential societies should come together to fight for their rights.”

She says citizens can approach their ward officer or additional municipal commissioner to get public spaces fenced off and a watchman and gardener appointed to look after it.

“If the BMC says it is unable to do so for want of funds, residents should take over the maintenance of the space,” she says. “It is not difficult to find corporates and trusts willing to help fund the development of a recreational space.”

That’s what happened with Oval Maidan, now being put to good use thanks to the Oval Cooperage Residents’ Association.

The association petitioned the high court, alleging neglect of the maidan by the state government, and won the right to look after the space.

This 22-acre maidan, once a haunt of drug addicts, beggars and antisocial elements, has been transformed into a well-maintained ground where children from all walks of life run around freely, learn cricket or play.

Nine-year-old Samanyu Singh Yadav, for instance, is one of seven youngsters aged five to nine who come here every day for a 75-minute coaching session with football coach Deepak Narvade. As the boys practice, their maids wait for them on the green lawns.

At the far end, a group of boys from Colaba’s Ambedkar colony practice under the banner of the Oscar Football Club. Deepak Chavan (14) of the Colaba municipal school, who is supervising the session, says he and his friends play at the Oval every Monday, Thursday and Saturday (Sundays are for Cross Maidan).

Gaurang Chavan, a college student who, along with Ashok Rathod and Suraj Patro, started training these boys from the fishermen’s colony two years ago, says that, through football, these children pick up life skills that can improve their lot. I ask the boys what they’d be doing if they didn’t have this place to play in. “Sitting in our homes, or walking in the lanes, I guess,” replies Deepak.

the power of play

On the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road in Andheri East, a BMC park named after 26/11 martyr Vijay Salaskar is now a focal point for residents.

A short distance away, in Poonam Nagar, a park now named after slain police officer Ashok Kamte would have been lost to the builder lobby if local MLA Suresh Shetty had not intervened. The MLA rescued the plot and brought in four paddleboats and a rope bridge over the pond it holds. The park is hugely popular with children and parents alike.

Says Ganima Sheikh, who leaves her three-year-old son Kaif to play in the sandpit with other children while she walks around: “It is good that we have this open space for children. Otherwise they stay in their houses playing computer games and never learn the many lessons one learns playing with other children.”

There is also Santoshi Dubey, who likes to wait here for her children Anurag and Anupa. After school, the boys come here to play in the sandpit for a while before they head home.

Another green haven, this time in Powai, showcases the benefits of public-private partnership. The lush Nirvana Park, maintained by Hiranandani Constructions, has paddleboats too, and fish in its pond. It charges a Rs 5 entry fee, which goes towards maintenance.

Marketing professional Padma Naik, who brings her eight-year-old daughter Apeksha here, says she doesn’t mind paying for the pleasure.

A view many Mumbaikars would endorse.