BMC Tables Proposals Diverting Mumbai Open Spaces Despite Mahayuti Pledge
Since 2023, 12 plots in Mumbai originally designated for parks, playgrounds, and recreation grounds have been diverted for utilities and alternate developments, with three additional plots facing similar changes before the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Improvements Committee. The moves come despite pledges by the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance to protect public open spaces, affecting areas across the city including Andheri, Jogeshwari, and Bandra Reclamation.
Seven proposals were tabled just four months after the coalition promised to protect open spaces from private interests ahead of the civic body elections in 2026. Some of the changes were pushed by BJP legislators Ameet Satam and Mihir Kotecha. Data from the BMC’s Development Plan (DP) department shows that modifications to reserved open spaces under the DP 2034 included two changes in 2023, four in 2024, and two in 2025.
Among the latest proposals placed before the Improvements Committee is the Neville D’Souza Football Ground at Bandra Reclamation, which is scheduled to facilitate an exhibition and convention centre.
Defending the proposals, Satam said that existing reservations represented anomalies that needed to be resolved. He cited the example of a space in Jogeshwari zoned as a park, where a 150-year-old dilapidated temple standing on privately owned trust land required reservation changes for reconstruction. Satam noted that he had previously opposed handing over two open space plots in Andheri and Juhu to a private trust, while proposals for the Malabar Hill gardens have not been cleared.
Civic activists and urban planners have voiced strong objections to the alterations. In a representation dated August 19, Urban Centre Mumbai planners Pankaj Joshi and Urmi Kenia expressed concern over the conversion of the Bandra Reclamation playground. They noted that the BMC’s DP 2034 assessment shows Mumbai has only 1.20 square metres of public open space per capita, well below the DP’s recommended norm of 4 square metres and the World Health Organization standard of 9 square metres.
Congress leader in the BMC Ashraf Azmi criticised the recurring changes to the 2018 Development Plan, while NAGAR founder trustee Nayana Kathpalia stated that deleting open-space reservations undermines assurances given by political leaders.
