Mumbai: Santacruz park for seniors turns into illegal dump

Launched with great fanfare on November 10 2017 Circle Garden on Linking Road in Santacruz was supposed to become one of the major landmarks in the Western suburbs However three years later midday found during a visit that what was supposed to be a landscaped eyepleasing gardencumtraffic island has become an illegal kabootar khanaThe Circle Garden in Daulat Nagar project was inaugurated in the presence of politicians and cine stars It aimed to give citizens a better cleaner and beautiful SantacruzThe garden stands at one end of the Linking Road Apart from greenery it was supposed to have four laserlit fountains and a dedicated walkway for senior citizens During the visit midday found a man sitting under an umbrella doing brisk business selling pigeon feedA stone waterfall that was supposed to come up at the gardenThe portion that leads to the helipad was being used as a dump yard for dilapidated cars An incomplete dingy concrete structure in the centre had no electricity or plumbing It was dark and reeking of urine It is apparently also being used as a clandestine party hubA pondlike structure which was supposed to have the fountains fills up even after a light shower and becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoesPeople feed pigeons at the traffic islandRight outside the gardenrsquos boundary the road leading towards SV Road and Milan subway had a foulsmelling garbage dump which is cleared every evening to make space for a bustling vegetable market which leads to some shanties and an open area occupied by rag pickersRaghunandan Haridas secretary of Relief Road Housing Societies said that it had taken his association over 20 years to get the gardencumtraffic island cleared of illegal encroachment but now it appears that their challenge to regain the open space is far from overldquoGetting a beautiful garden in our area was great news for us We were really impressed with the arrangements made for the bhoomi poojan attended by our MLA Advocate Ashish Shelar Corporator Hetal Gala and actors like Shreyas Talpade Priya Banerjee Karishma Sharma Adah Sharma and Pooja Choprardquo said HaridasHe added that the original area of the plot was 2464 sq metre which has been reduced to 1865 sq metre ldquoA society member found a dead pigeon on our terrace recently and the BMC was informed about the samerdquo Haridas saidA boatshaped fountain planned for the gardenVishwajit Kulkarni who is the secretary of a building opposite the plot said that their terrace parapet is covered with pigeon poop which is a health hazard plus the residents have to be extra vigilant while stepping out into their compound to avoid getting hit by the wellfed birdsWhat officials sayCorporator Gala said that the plot is under an SRA scheme for development and was handed over to a company called Options Developers and Builders who were also awarded other projects in the area for development and maintenance ldquoIt is the common citizens who are deprived of the amenities which appear only on the Development Plan and are never executedrdquo she saidShelar described the situation as a total breach of trust ldquoIt has been brought to my notice that besides the development of the garden there are other serious discrepancies where those shifted as per SRA norms have still not been given alternate accommodation I am in discussion with authorities to take stringent action against the companyrdquo he said Ashok Bachav speaking on behalf of Girishbhai Patel of Options Developers who had promised to develop the plot said that as per the details received from his site manager the garden project was put on the back burner due to an overall delay in the Development Plan ldquoWe have restarted our work now and intend to develop the garden as per the original plan This could take another two yearsrdquo