Time to join hands with BMC to make city greener

The nook, which used to see citizens throwing rubbish in it, has been transformed into a beautiful green space

The space may be small but the statement it made was significant. This paper carried a report on how a nook on the tony Little Gibbs Road in Malabar Hill has been transformed from an empty, unattractive corner to a little patch of green.

This space saw garbage dumped there at times. A scrap vendor used to collect material there. Overall, a useless nook in danger of becoming a compact regular dump yard.

The civic authorities and a local Advanced Locality Management (ALM) came together to turn it into a little garden. It is now an eye-catching, manicured place with grass, plants and saplings. The importance is the collaboration between the BMC and locals.

More often than not, we see the BMC and locals pitted against each other or on opposite sides, for a multitude of reasons. This is what makes a joint effort so impressive and one that sets an example for the rest of the city.

Mumbai has a number of unused, open spaces that become derelict dumping grounds. If they are huge, there is a real fear of encroachment and anti-social elements taking over, using the space for all kinds of suspect activities.

In Mumbai, where every inch equals a yard and people would jump at the opportunity of having free space, these empty public spaces and even infra tends to be taken over if found lying in a decrepit condition.

Maybe, there is a good way to go about making use of them, in collaboration with civic authorities. We need locals to pursue the project for an eye-catching uplift. That does not mean leaving it to one or two persons but a coming together where everybody pulls their weight. More power to allied initiatives that can transform Mumbai.