slum children

Bay View Marina garden

city Collector Sampada Mehta

Cuffe Parade Residents’ Association

CPRA

public toilet

BMC

Cuffe Parade residents seek to flout city collector’s order allowingto enter.One needs to be spiffily dressed and speak good English to enter thefor the elite in south Mumbai’s tony Cuffe Parade.Despite’s order to allow entry to slum children inside the 3.5-acre garden, the) called the police on Thursday to complain about slum kids playing on the football ground.Mirror had reported on October 26 about the stark divide between the rich and the poor in Cuffe Parade, and how Mehta had ruled on Wednesday that every citizen of India had a fundamental right to use the open space.“The watchman told us they had orders from the topmost floor from the tower to shoo us away. They called the police and told us to either get inside the van and go to the police station, or leave the garden,” said Harshal Choughule, 18, who had come there to play football.Rajkumar Singh Chouhan, resident of a slum, said that only after the police were apprised of the collector’s orders were they allowed to go.“They play during garden timings. The kids have holidays till November 3. They will make use of the ground to play football and cricket,” Chouhan said.Vivek Nakhle, 14, said the security guard on duty used a stick to shoo them, and even let some dogs loose on them. Sachin Tandel, 18, said the rich-poor divide is so stark that when the rich kids from the towers come to play, they instruct the watchman to stop slum kids from playing. “They switch off the lights when we play, but when the rich kids play, the lights are on,” Tandel said.Mirror met some of the children living in a nearby tower who had come to play football on the ground. Johan Trivadi, a Cuffe Parade resident, admitted, “We get to play only for an hour as we have to study. So we instruct the watchman not to allow these kids inside the playground when we are playing.”block is also kept under lock and key inside the garden by the CPRA, despite an order sent by thein June to keep the toilet open at all hours.A letter written by the BMC’s assistant engineer, solid waste management, to the CPRA chairman, states: “On enquiry with the security guard, it is given to understand that the toilet block was kept closed as per your directives and… you have instructed them not to allow any other to utilise the toilet block. This does not make sense. You are therefore directed to keep the toilet block open round the clock and allow all the people who are using the park. If you fail to do so, forceful possession of the toilet block will be taken.”The CPRA had invested Rs 12 crore to protect this green lung from encroachers and convert it into a garden with a walking and jogging track, a play area for children and a meeting point for the young and the old.Padmakar Nandekar, secretary, CPRA, when contacted, said, “The garden timing is a crucial issue for us. We had to call the police as the kids were playing football till noon. The garden closes at 9.30 am. The toilet is kept open only during garden timings. But the local residents want it open 24 hours. They use the toilet to bathe and wash their clothes. We pay water charges at the commercial rate. We don’t hold a personal grudge. But the fact is 28 new slums have come up near the garden. We are facing a huge threat.”Collector Mehta is slated to pay a visit to the garden soon, to see if the CPRA continues to deny entry to slum children.