Irregularities show up in garden expenses

Over Rs 1 cr were spent in the last five years for maintenance of Raosaheb Patwardhan garden but activists claim not much work has been done

Residents of the 'Queen of Suburbs' are furious with the organisation maintaining 14,000 sq feet expanse of Raosaheb Patwardhan garden.

If increasing the tariff to enter the garden was not enough, an RTI filed by a local activist reveals irregularities in maintenance and expenses of the garden located in Bandra.


Raosaheb Patwardhan garden in Bandra

Over Rs 1 crore were spent since 2005 for the upkeep of garden but apparently it does not reflect in the garden.

Aftab Siddiqui, president of Linking Road Citizen's Forum, who filed the RTI, said, "Every year the foundation carried out tiling and maintenance work.
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But the fountain is not in a working condition and the plants are not well kept. The phone bill for the park exceeded Rs 40,000 a year. How is that possible?
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Also, as a rule, Kamla Raheja Foundation should have sent letters to the BMC before taking up any repair work. But RTI discloses that no letters were filed and still the BMC let them carry out the work and even increase the entry prices."
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In January this year, ticket to enter the garden was hiked from Re 1 to Rs 5 by Kamla Raheja Foundation, whichu00a0 supervises the area, citing monetary expenses on repair work, which exceeded the revenue collected.
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Also, the foundation earlier refused to allow children to play on a ground within the garden despite it being tagged as a 'recreation ground' by the BMC.

Asked why the ticket prices were hiked in spite of all these concerns, Sudhir Naik, former deputy municipal commissi-oner of Zone III, under whom a probing committee was appointed after the residents staged protest, said, "The garden department has to answer this question.
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I am no more the DMC of the zone. But the rates were hiked after a proposal was passed and we had told the foundation to carry out the maintenance work."

The Other Side
The spokesperson of Sheila Raheja Foundation (a sister concern foundation) said, "Every garden in the city now charges Rs 5 for the tickets. The park is well maintained by the foundation and we allow all to use it. For the account details submitted to the BMC, I'll have to check with someone from the accounts team."