BMC general body snubs interim open spaces policy

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have engaged in yet another tussle ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. After the BJP-dominated civic improvements committee passed the controversial interim open spaces policy on Wednesday, paving way for backdoor entry of private players for maintaining the city’s open spaces, the policy was not taken up in the civic general body meeting on Thursday. The Shiv Sena dominates the latter.

As per the interim policy, private organisations could hold custody of public open spaces for caretaking, as long as they allowed indiscriminate public access to the space, free of charge, and adhered to the BMC’s timings. Besides, no commercial activities would be allowed on the plot.