Letter to Sachin Tendulkar and the Truth behind Kandivali MCA Club Dear Mr Tendulkar! You are Indias biggest icon, every Indians heart beats for you and you are symbol of our aspirations and our pride. It is with extreme disappointment that we learned that your name will be associated with the MCA Club in Kandivali which is a symbol of shameless loot by politicians of national resource, a symbol of how even the smallest joys of the poor are looted to benefit already fat purses. Your association with this club will shake the very foundations of whatever little hope that is left in the nation. Aam Aadmi Party entreats you to not associate your blessed name with the MCA club which has blatantly stolen a playground of Mumbais children and made it into a swank club for the rich and famous. A Mumbaiker yourself, you know how our children are forced to play cricket in gullies, incurring the wrath of many broken windows. Almost all playgrounds have been stolen by politicians who make swank facilities with prohibitive entry costs. We have nothing against luxurious clubs - but they should be made on commercial land, not land stolen from our children. AAP had also filed a PIL against the club and the details of the shameless corruption are described at the end of this letter. At this stage, when you are poised to put down the bat and signal the end of Indias most spectacular sports eras, the whole worlds eyes are on you. At this time, more than ever, your being associated with a wicked club that has stolen the playground of the poorest children of a city that has been the Mecca of Indian cricket would be a complete shame. You would do well not to smear your good name through an association with this club which is besmirched in controversy, Who stole my child’s playground? A. Open Spaces in Mumbai MCGM’s claim that there are 31.5% open spaces in Mumbai is refuted by their own data that shows only 3.69% space is meant for public use - the rest is inaccessible mangroves, forests etc. Total Area Under MCGM Total natural areas & Open Spaces Open Spaces Accessible to public Area in Hectares 41,506 13,076 1,530 Percentage 31.50% 3.69% News reports show only 35% of these accessible spaces are open spaces for the people, the rest have been taken over for by private recreational clubs. That leaves us with 1.29% open spaces! This too is fast disappearing. Mumbai’s ratio of open spaces is the worst in the world, and this in the face of the fact that we are a polluted, dirty city fighting a host of diseases caused due to our claustrophobic environment. And where are our open spaces going? They are becoming clubs for the rich and famous, and the modus operandi is very simple: • A play ground is given to a politician to and maintain either as “adoption” or “caretaker”. Interestingly the caretaker policy is not defined but land has been given away nevertheless! • Under the ambiguous guidelines, in some cases he/she develops and maintains it, mostly with public funds. In some cases the developer is vaguely allowed to retain 25% of the plot to make a recreational facility while the balance 75% should be maintained as a garden. He/she can charge a nominal entry fee for the garden too, of about Rs.2 to Rs.5.The 25% is used for a club which has a high membership fee and is meant for privileged citizens who can afford the fees. • In most cases the entire the 100% is gobbled up by the politician to make facilities accessible only for the upper section of society. B. The Playground in question - a case in point In Mahavir Nagar, Kandivali West there was a vacant plot admeasuring 42,290.6 square meters, bearing CTS Number 128-A/59/1. (Exhibit 1) In the Development Plan this has been earmarked as a Playground “PG” and at the time of taking possession, it was bereft of any TDR. Hence there cannot be any construction on this land. (Exhibit 2) 24th July 2002 Possession Receipt from the Assistant Commissioner Estates to the Assistant Engineer Maintenance R/Central Ward. Plot admeasuring 42,290.6 square meters, bearing CTS Number 128-A/59/1 at Village Kandivali is acquired from the owner by the Municipal Corporation and the Ward office will protect it from encroachment. 8707.66 square metres has been handed over to the WSP (Water Supply) Department. (Exhibit 3) C. MCA Club We all know of Mumbai’s Mumbai Cricket Association - MCA’s swank club in BKC. It is the meeting point of the city’s elite and has very little to do with sports. It is said all top bureaucrats have free membership of MCA club. Sharad Pawar decided that he wanted one more hub for the rich & famous and asked Municipal Corporation to give MCA the said plot in Kandivali. Extreme haste was exercised in granting the plot, within 5 days of requesting, MCA was granted the playground with no involvement of other contenders or public notifications. 5th February 2003 Sharad Pawar writes to Shri Sitaram Kunte, Additional Municipal Commissioner Western Suburbs, declaring that MCA needs a place to coach youngsters in Western Suburbs and asks for the said plot. He assures that MCA maintain the space and abide by terms and conditions of the Municipal Corporation. (Exhibit 4) 6th February 2003 This letter was marked as “received” . (Exhibit 4) 6th February 2003, 5:00pm Assistant Commissioner R Central writes to Deputy Municipal Commissioner Zone 4 that the said plot referred in the letter has been “inspected” and recommends that “as per the policy and in large public interest” the plot can be given to MCA. (Exhibit 5) 10th February 2003 The PG plot is sanctioned to MCA vide sanction NoAMC/WS/7173 and MGC/F/6257 and circular no.DyChE/PICel/5025 (Exhibit 6) D. The Catch In 2003 the MCA was granted said plot for 3rd March 2003 for “adoption”. As per the “adoption policy” the developer cannot construct on the property. Now this would not do. The purpose of “adopting” the land was to build a swank club. But not to worry, the Municipal Corporation was being beautifully manipulated way in advance. On 9th March 2004 the Municipal Corporation made an entire note to an Improvement Committee to give a red carpet to MCA. (Exhibit 7) This note inadvertently spilled the beans on how the Municipal Corporation bypassed the proposed guidelines to allow MCA to build on the playground. i. The note states that MCA got the land on “Adoption Basis” but it “intends” to develop a sport-cum-recreation complex which is disallowed under the “Adoption Policy” so new provisions have been tailor made to allow MCA the right to construct. (Exhibit 7 Point 2) i. The history to this was that on 9th May 2000 Municipal Corporation passed a resolution with guidelines on development of public spaces in order to ease land grab. But the State Government stayed the guidelines and asked the Municipal Corporation to show cause why the implementation of the resolution should not be permanently stayed. (Exhibit 7 Point 3) i. Removing the stay seemed almost impossible. So they considered “leasing” the property but a Law officer opined that “as per section 92 (dd) of MMC Act 1868 municipal land can be allotted at concessional lease rent, with the approval of the State Government, only for medical, education and public Sanitary Convenience” purposes. (Exhibit 7 Point 4) i. They finally used a brilliant ruse - on 10th December 2002 Municipal Corporation informed the State Government that have “reconsidered” their resolution. Since the resolution was removed, the State Government lifted the stay. The note explains that in view of removal of the stay, “the Corporation is at liberty now” to formulate fresh guidelines on development of reserved spaces. So they came up with the plan to give the said plot on “caretaker” basis wherein the developer will be allowed to construct in accordance with guidelines which were yet to be drafted. (Exhibit 7 Point 3 & 5) i. MCA told them that it would abide by all guidelines but could not be bothered with waiting for the Municipal Corporation to frame these guidelines. So it asked for immediate possession of the land and permission to start development in lieu of a promise that it would abide by the guidelines which were yet to be framed! (Exhibit 7 Point 6) Clearly they were not worried what would be the content of the guidelines, if so much was changed to accommodate them, would the guidelines not be tailor made? Municipal Corporation readily agreed. i. The Municipal Corporation went one step further - they decided to give the land to MCA without making public advertisements which they admit is a deviation from procedures of allotment. (Exhibit 7 Point 8) i. Their largesse did not end here. In 2002 when the Municipal Corporation had taken possession of the said plot admeasuring 42290 sq.m., about 8000 sq.m. was given to the Water Supply Dept. The Municipal Corporation predicted that the Water Supply Department will only need 2340 sq.m on completion of the work which was slated for more than a year and half later. So they should return the balance land to MCA and MCA should finally get 39950 sq.m. (Exhibit 7 Point 9). Eventually the Water Supply Dept retained only 2332 sq.m and dutifully handed over the balance possession to the Municipal in 2006 (Exhibit 8) 4. The Current Situation On 9th February 2005 the said plot was hand over to the MCA for the purpose is of Cricket Academy Sports-Cum-Recreation Complex on Caretaker basis. (Exhibit 9) Many interesting points emerged in this letter. Interestingly it states that MCA will develop the plot and donate it back to the Municipal Corporation.The Municipal Corporation will then permit MCA to manage it their on cost. (Exhibit 9 Point 2, 3) On an aside the Municipal Corporation has added a clause that states all Municipal Councillors of relevant Ward Committee will be members of the club. We were not aware that our Councillors needed cricket coaching. (Exhibit 9 Point 4) All these changes were very high level and many in the Municipal Corporation were quite clueless. The Assistant Commissioner R/Central found out only in December 2007 that the said playground was given to MCA not as a garden, but as a caretaker. (Exhibit 10) MCA is firmly in charge now and ready for inauguration which was meant to be on 28th June 2013 but has been postponed today to 11th July 2013. They pay no dues, no rent to the state for using a plot worth hundreds of crores. They don’t even pay any bills! The water department of the municipal corporation had threatened to take possession of the land as they had not paid water bills for years! (Exhibit 11) They have made 270 crores in membership fee already at the rate of 9 lakhs per member. Near MCA Club is Pawar School and that too has appropriated the adjoining playground. In the vicinity is Kamla Vihar Sports Club, allegedly run by BJP MLA Gopal Shetty in the same fashion. All the open spaces in this area have been shamelessly looted. Aam Aadmi Demands We can clearly see all rules and norms have been flouted to give MCA the land and we In this case, besides the blatant robbery of public spaces the points to be noted are: The haste in which land was allotted - 5 days. • No public notification, no invitation of other contenders • The proposed guidelines were bypassed to allow MCA this plot • By the Municipal Corporation’s own letter the MCA is to hand over the developed property to them and then take it over to manage - so the board outside should read MCGM Club, managed by MCA • The 270 crores fee collected belongs to MCGM - the developed property was donated to MCGM. • The said plot came into the Municipal Corporation’s possession in lieu of TDR. So there are no development rights on this plot. By changing from playground to recreational ground and adoption to caretaker does not override the fact that there is NO PERMISSION TO CONSTRUCT on this land in the first place! There is no caretaker policy in place as yet. The agreement between MCA and Municipal Corporation was that MCA could develop the plot and they would abide by the policy whenever it was released. With no policy in place yet, how can they begin operations? The entire process of making members and starting commercial operations is illegitimate! AAP demands that the MCA inauguration be stopped, an inquiry conducted and the land be returned to the public. Further, the Municipal Corporation should make a complete disclosure of open spaces and their current possession. All these spaces must be immediately returned for the use of all citizens. We do feel that excellent clubs and facilities must be made for those who can afford them - but this should be done at land bought at commercial rates - not on land stolen from the citizens. And for the less fortunate too there should be affordable gymkhanas and sports facilities run by the Municipal Corporation at affordable rates, but those too should be on other plots owned by the Corporation and not on open spaces.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 07:13:57 +0000
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