BMC tweaks underground parking plan

The BMC has officially changed the plan of the underground car parking in a portion of the Patwardhan Park in Bandra West and even postponed the bidding date by another month Activists have however alleged that though the BMC mentioned that it has changed the plan it is merely an eyewashThe BMC has published the prebid meeting minutes extension to bidding and a change in the plan of the underground multilevel electromechanical car parking system on its website The BMC mentioned in its prebid meeting minutes that someone raised the query about whether the three levels of underground parking is contrary to the provision of DCPR 53 development control and promotion regulation that allows only one or two levels BMCrsquos traffic department remarked that the proposed construction will be two basement floors under the ground level with the capacity for parking 190 carsThe BMC had floated a tender to construct the underground parking at Patwardhan Park in Bandra West File picPradeep DhivarThe BMC had asked the designers to accommodate a ramp from the ground floor to basement and so the number of car spaces was reduced from 228 to 190 Accordingly Structwel Designers and Consultants Pvt Ltd mentioned this in its letter to the BMC The letter also shows the new drawings with two level parking as per the DCPR ruleslsquoNot rightrsquoBut activists alleged that this is just an eyewash ldquoThe BMC wants to fool the public that the tender has now been redesigned for two levels but its own revised drawing shows three levels with 60 cars in level 1 65 cars in level 2 and a level 3 making a total of 190 cars Even their revised drawing clearly shows three levelsrdquo said Zoru Bhathena activist and one of the petitioners who filed a petition against the BMCrsquos proposed underground construction in an open spaceHowever Deputy Municipal Commissioner Ulhas Mahale insisted there will be two levels ldquoIt is just an EPC engineering procurement and construction drawing for illustration and the final drawing will be submitted by the contractors We already mentioned that there will be two levels onlyrdquo said MahaleThe BMC has also changed the submission of tender dates for the construction of the car parking system at Patwardhan Park for the once again This is the seventh extension Now the date for submission of the Patwardhan Park tender is July 24 But this time the BMC hasnrsquot postponed the tender dates of the other two car parking systems at the BMC engineering hub building in Worli and at Flora FountainThe BMC had floated a tender to construct the underground parking at Patwardhan Park in Bandra West on March 6 As per the earlier schedule the last date for submission of the tenders was April 3 The process was first delayed with two extensions for a prebid meeting Initially the BMC extended the deadlines by a week but the past two times it extended the deadline by 15 days and now it has extended it for a monthMLA Ashish Shelar awaitedResidents and activists opposed the move and asked for a meeting with local MLA Ashish Shelar who moved the proposal for the underground parking The meeting hasnrsquot taken place yet and since then the BMC has been dragging its feet on the proposal Local residents and activists have filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court against the construction in the open spacePetitioners Bhathena and Alan Abraham claimed to have visited every commercial building within 150 metres of Patwardhan Park and counted the available car parking spaces for four and two wheelers ldquoIn the immediate vicinity within 150 metres of Patwardhan Park there exist over 500 officially sanctioned car parking spaces for mercantile establishments However the petitioner has observed that almost 400 of these parking spaces are lying unused or encroached uponrdquo said the PIL On Thursday the PIL was adjourned to June 28 so petitioners can add more infofacts to itTender mattersTender floated on March 6Original date of submission of tender April 3First extension to date of submission of tender April 10Second extension April 17Third extension April 24Fourth extension May 9Fifth extension May 24Sixth extension June 23Seventh extension July 24