Mumbai Congress president Charan Singh Sapra cites DP clause, asks for dumpyard to be made estuary park – Times of India

MUMBAI: Congress on Tuesday opposed the BMC’s plan to shift the Mahalaxmi racecourse to the site of the Mulund dumping ground and demanded that the BMC build a theme park and estuary park at the coastal landfill site in Mulund instead.
Working president of the Mumbai Congress Charan Singh Sapra wrote to municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal opposing the BMC’s plan to shift the race course to Mulund. “As a citizen who was born in Mulund, I strongly oppose this idea. In fact, the theme park project must be executed on the 24-hectare land fill site. There was already a provision in the Development Plan (DP) for an estuary park on the land adjoining the dumping ground,” Sapra said.
Sapra said the BMC will have to club a private land parcel adjacent to the dumping ground land to fit the racecourse in Mulund. “Operating a racecourse is not a public purpose and hence spending public money to buy private land will be bad in law. There was a reservation of an estuary park on the land adjoining the dumping ground…a theme park and estuary park will be a benefiting project in the interest of the public,” Sapra said in his letter to Chahal.
The state government may offer the Mulund dumping ground land to shift Mahalaxmi Racecourse from south Mumbai. Close to a decade after Royal Western India Turf Club’s lease on the racecourse expired, the BMC is set to write to the government seeking ownership of the land to convert it into a theme park.