Times
of India: Mumbai: Wednesday, 18 November 2015.
After
accusations that the previous caretaker policy for open spaces led to misuse,
the civic body's current draft policy says organizations, trusts or local
resident associations adopting open spaces would come under the ambit of the
Right to Information (RTI) Act. In a further attempt to ensure transparency, the
call for applicants for adoption of plots would be made through newspapers in
Marathi and English.
"The
reason these organizations, trusts or local associations managing the plots are
being brought under RTI is that any person could at any point of time know the
expenditure involved in maintaining a plot. While the BMC can get these
details, we want it to be made accessible to the common man as well," said
S V R Srinivas, the additional municipal commissioner.
The
trusts/organizations preference would be for local resident associations, said
Srinivas would be asked to keep the
spaces under them open throughout the day from 6am to 9pm to enable the widest
spectrum of the population to benefit from the ground. Moreover, children below
12 and senior citizens should not be charged for entry. For the rest, Rs 2 can
be charged. If Rs 5 crore or more has been spent on a ground, up to Rs 5 can be
sought to allow entry.
"There
has been a great policy vacuum for the last eight years and, therefore, it is
important that a policy be in place," added Srinivas.
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