MUMBAI: Citing lack of funds, the civic body plans to curtail the ongoing beautification of the iconic Bandra lake. The BMC will now only take up basic work such as construction of promenade, amphitheatre and setting up street furniture.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had earlier come up with Rs5crore plan for beautification and restoration of the lake, but the budget has been downsized to Rs3 crore. The beautification work of the lake started in January. Along with the beautification, the original proposal included desilting and building walkways around the pond, which will not be taken up now.
Objecting to the sudden decision taken up by the civic body, local corporator Asif Zakaria has written to standing committee chairman Yashodhar Phanse and additional municipal commissioner SVR Srinivas.
“What will be the use of spending crores of rupees if the water is not clean and a major portion of the lake is inaccessible to citizens? Desilting will improve the quality and volume of the lake. Even the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee had recommended desilting,” said Zakaria, in the letter.
A senior civic official involved in the project said as the funds are inadequate, the desilting work will be done in the next phase. The walkway around the lake was suggested by the MHCC, but the civic body dismissed it.
“For the walkway, we need to put beams in the lake, which the heritage committee may object to,” said another senior official.
Zakaria said, “Once the beautification is done, the civic body will again damage the promenade for desilting. There are several ways of developing the walkway, but the civic body is ignoring it.”
SVR Srinivas remained unavailable for comment.
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