While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been claiming to correct errors in the Development Plan (DP) 2034, civic activists have contested it saying that a single amenity like golf cours
While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been claiming to correct errors in the Development Plan (DP) 2034, civic activists have contested it saying that a single amenity like golf courses have been offered different designations in the earlier and revised draft DP.
A revised DP has shown that some of the golf courses in the city have again been given different designations. The United Golf Course, Colaba, has been designated as ‘Club/Gymkhana’, whereas in the earlier DP in 2015, it was marked as ‘Playground/Garden/Park’ and similarly, the Wellington Sports Club, Tardeo, has been designated as Club/Gymkhana and Garden/Park, while it was marked as Playground/Garden/Park and Club/Gymkhana in the earlier DP. In case of Bombay Presidency Golf Club, Chembur, it has been designated as Playground as against the Club/Gymkhana in the earlier DP.
“The issue was highlighted by us last year and yet a single facility (amenity) has been marked differently by BMC,” said Godfrey Pimenta from the Watchdog Foundation.
“The BMC is claiming that it has pressed into service 520 engineers/town planners to prepare the revised DP, then how could the designations go wrong ”
However, civic officials have claimed there is nothing wrong in showing golf courses as playgrounds as it is a ‘playing activity’. A senior official from the DP department said, “Golf courses have been added to the playground, as we did not want to increase the designations, which have now been limited in the revised DP. The golf clubs have been formed by using 15 per cent floor space index (FSI) of the original plot, which has been marked as playground in the DP. So just by showing it as a playground, it does not mean the golf courses become unauthorised.”
In the revised DP, only two nomenclatures have been shown for open spaces —gardens and playgrounds. They will have no construction and will be open to public.
The designations of Recreational Grounds (RGs) in the earlier DP have only been continued in the revised draft, he added.
