mid-day garden audit: Parks to remain open till 9 pm, says Civic body

At the moment, most gardens in the city are kept open for a total of seven hours. Rep Pic

It's a win for the city! The civic body has made good on its promise during mid-day's Round Table in July - it has agreed to keep gardens open for longer hours. Sources said Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta has finalised the timings, which will give citizens nearly five hours more in gardens across the city. mid-day has been consistently reporting about citizens' demand to have the city's open space accessible for longer.

During mid-day's Round Table, civic officials had agreed to citizens and activists' demand of extending garden timings, considering the change in lifestyle and corporate culture.

According to senior officials from the garden department, after much discussion on timing, keeping safety and maintenance aspects in mind, the administration has agreed to allow gardens to be open from 6 am to 12 pm and 3 pm to 9 pm. At the moment, most gardens across the city are open for a total of seven hours throughout the day.

Once the official circular is out, city gardens will open at 6 am and shut at 9 pm. Rep Pic

A fine tune
According to a source, Mehta, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC), in-charge of garden department, Dr Kishor Kshirsagar and other department officials have chalked out the plan.

The source said, "The civic chief is positive towards the proposal to keep gardens open for 12 hours; soon, the final order with a circular will be issued to all wards for implementation. Apart from this, zonal DMCs and ward officers will be given power to change the timings according to demands or suggestions from citizens' groups. "We need to shut gardens in the afternoon for three hours for maintenance work. It is not possible to do this at night; hence, this afternoon break has been kept."

Deputy Commissioner Kishor Kshirsagar, Garden Superintendent Jitendra Pardeshi, environmentalist Rishi Aggarwal and corporator Asif Zakaria at the Round Table. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta said, "Yes, we are actively considering it and working on the modalities, which should be finalised in a few days." "We are in the final stages of deciding on garden timings. Soon, there will be a circular out regarding this," reiterated Kshirsagar.

The risk factor
When asked why gardens won't be kept open till 10 or 11 pm, a senior civic official said, "As of now, we feel that it will be risky... considering safety issues. In many areas, there is a strong possibility of druggies, drunks or anti-social elements coming to these spaces, posing a threat to visitors."

Earlier, BMC had decided to take No-Objection Certificate from the respective local police stations for this, but on realising it is likely to face a dead end, the plan was dropped.

A suggestion
Rishi Aggarwal,
environmental activist
'It's good the civic body is considering extension of garden timings. Citizens will definitely cheer for this. But instead of shutting gardens from 12 pm to 3 pm, BMC should try to do the maintenance in parts. There are higher chances of citizens using gardens in that time slot, as many like to take walks after lunch. It will be highly appreciated if the civic body considers this'

Also Read: Mid-Day Garden Audit: Authorities Start Work To Revamp Picnic Point Garden In Aarey Colony

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