Mumbai: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday launched a drive to protect Mumbai’s open spaces, tackling a contentious issue between the civic body and residents of this city concerned over shrinking gardens and open grounds.

With the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) trying to introduce policies that will allow private players to look after open spaces, the AAP has expressed its opposition to this move as” a ploy to give away our playgrounds to create exclusive private clubs for politicians.”

The BMC has 1,065 playgrounds, recreation grounds, parks and gardens that cover 485 hectares. Yet, compared to most cities in the world, Mumbai’s ratio of open spaces per person is abysmal.

The BMC is also one of the richest municipal bodies in Asia, “made rich with our taxes,” Preeti Sharma Menon, AAP national spokesperson, said.

Not only does it have an annual budget of Rs335.14 billion (Dh18.39 billion) but it also has reserves of Rs460 billion deposited as surplus. Out of this the Garden Department has an allocated budget of Rs4.59 billion which lies largely unused. Several NGOs and citizen groups who have studied the cost of maintenance of these 1,065 plots say it is not more than Rs2 billion.

“Why then does the BMC need to create third party rights of private players?” Menon asked.

The Adoption Policy of the BMC will allow private players to maintain these spaces and then restrict public access. Furthermore, the BMC proposes allowing those plots marked as recreation grounds to be given to private players under a Caretaker Policy, which allows them to build their own commercial recreation clubs.

The MIG Club in Bandra East, Mumbai Cricket Association and many other clubs have already been built even in the absence of a legal framework, Menon says.

“One can imagine if a policy will be created, it will give them [private players] a free hand to loot each and every ground,” she feels.

The AAP, she says, is also alarmed that the policies are so cleverly crafted that the fine print will eliminate local residential groups and NGOs who do not have the muscle power or corporates who shy from paperwork from participating.

“It is meant only to benefit politicians.”

The AAP has written to the governor of Maharashtra, chief minister, mayor, municipal commissioner and all the municipal corporators to disallow the Adoption and Caretaker policies.

AAP leaders, Meera Sanyal, Menon and Mona Ambegaonkar, who are spearheading this fight say they are determined to do everything they can do to ensure that this policy is stopped and will go to the court if needed.

Ambegaonkar is also leading the party’s efforts to save Aarey Colony, a vast green expanse in suburban Goregaon, where the government has plans to build sheds for Metro Rail. The party feels Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has gone back on his word at the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and so the AAP will also approach the NGT to contest “this environmental disaster from taking place.”