BMC turns open spaces in Borivali and Saki Naka into graveyards for khataras

Mumbai: Once buzzing with youngsters playing football, cricket and other sports, some of the open spaces in densely populated areas of Borivali and Saki Naka have now been turned into graveyards of khataras. Even the children from the municipal school would use this ground to play outdoors but after Covid, the playground has vanished and now it is just a dump yard.” Dhaval Bhayani, who resides in a building which faces the dumping ground and first raised the issue with the BMC through their helpline number 1916 and sent several messages on the chief minister’s Clean Mumbai Helpline on WhatsApp, said the issue persists in his area. Even a tree that collapsed a few weeks back continues to remain there and the BMC officials have not done anything despite repeated complaints from residents.” An official from BMC’s R Central ward, under whose jurisdiction the Borivali ground is, said, “We are in the process of appointing a contractor to remove the debris.” The official further explained that the vehicles were moved from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park area by Mumbai police officials ahead of the G20 delegates’ visit. He said that he has reached out to several senior officials and despite repeated assurances from the BMC’s L ward, which covers areas such as Saki Naka, and Kurla among others, things have not moved. If the vehicles catch fire, then this will be a huge disaster.” Adarsh Keshav Hoizal, another resident, said, “BMC’s engineer from L ward has verbally told us on several occasions that the process of calling tenders for auctioning the scrapped vehicles has been completed and is waiting for orders from his seniors to dispose of the vehicles to a suitable bidder.