Mumbai: Show us the parking plan, ask Bandra-Khar residents to BMC

Along with Juhu residents and activists Bandra and Khar residents are also not very supportive of the BMCrsquos idea to have parking lots underneath parks Most people agree there is a need for parking lots but not at the cost of gardens They also have objections to the plan for allocating a space for hawkers in the lots Hence they want to see the plans the civic body has for these underground parking lotsAfter the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC declared its plan of constructing parking lots under two open spaces in the city mdash Pushpa Narsee Park at JVPD and Patwardhan Park at Khar west mdashJuhu residents started a movement against it Residents of Juhu and activists with the help of arboriculturists did a survey of the tree cover in Pushpa Narsee Park and even wrote a letter to the civic chief They started an online petition against the parking lot which has been signed by over 3500 peopleLocals upset with BMCHowever Bandra and Khar residents havent yet submitted strong objections as many are unaware of the steps taken by the BMC As per the earlier plan there will be space for parking as well as hawkers Jagjit Arora a Bandra resident said I need to see the plan first Parking is required and there has to be a practical approach There are a few parking spaces but they are small and meant for two wheelers The issue of four wheelers is still not solved We can take a call whether the lot should be underneath a garden or any other public placerdquo said AroraLocals donrsquot want Patwardhan Park to be harmed due to the underground parking lot File PicPradeep DhivarPrakash Jaykar who is a regular visitor to Patwardhan Park said ldquoThree years ago part of the park was taken away to widen the adjacent road to decongest the traffic The hawkers encroached that part and the road width remained as it was Now also construction under the park will only create more space for hawkers and nothing else Last time we had lots of meetings to raise our voices If the BMC is going to revive the plan then we will object to itrdquoRajubhai Ramaiya who visits the park every day said ldquoThis is the only green patch available here There are multiple parking lots in the area which are unused and constructing another one without a proper study makes no sense Show us the plan for the lotrdquoAlso read Mumbai lsquoParking under parkrsquo a winwin deal say MLAslsquoWhy space for hawkersrsquoIn one of the civic groups of Khar and Santacruz residents on social media moderated by Deyasini Choudhari an architect and trustee of H West Ward Federation out of 129 participants 76 per cent voted for underground parking allowed in a garden while 24 per cent were against it Residents are of the opinion that the plan has to be implemented fast to get rid of problems related to haphazard street parking and traffic woes At the same time 84 per cent participants donrsquot want hawkersrsquo space undergroundldquoThere were two polls carried out for Patwardhan Park While three fourth of the residents are okay with underground parking under a garden most of them are strongly against giving space to hawkers The obvious reason is we will have hawkers in an underground lot and there will be more of them on the surface as wellrdquo said Choudhari She added that Churchgate and CSMT plazas are good because there is a huge footfall of passengers People will never enter an isolated underground market and buy from roadside vendors only for lsquoconveniencersquo she addedAditi Kane an activist said ldquoPeople need a parking lot but maybe they are unaware of the consequences of construction of a lot under an open space which has full grown trees There has to be a balance between green and greys in urban areas as it is directly affecting our overall wellbeing After construction of a parking lot the space above will be turned into merely a terrace gardenrdquoThe issue of parking lots resurfaced after Additional Municipal Commissioner P Velarasu visited Raosaheb Patwardhan Park at Bandra West and Pushpa Narsee Park at JVPD Scheme in Juhu on February 2 In a press note issued by the BMC it was mentioned that local MLAs demanded that parking lots be built beneath these gardens In its 202324 budget the BMC had proposed the setting up of robotic parking at three places including Raosaheb Patwardhan Park