Bearing in mind the demands for setting up breastfeeding rooms for nursing mothers across civic offices, in a first, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has gone a step ahead and proposed a themed garden for babies, which will include the above-requested facility. A garden on these lines is proposed to be nurtured in Agripada, south Mumbai.
The garden will come up on a large plot of land reserved for a park in the Agripada area of Byculla, under the jurisdiction of E ward. A ‘baby feeding room’ will be constructed for all the infant visitors to this park. There will be toilets with infant rooms, playgrounds for children, an open gym for children, a dedicated area for yoga, decorative lights and other community spaces.
The park will have decorative entrances to catch the eye of its wee visitors. The defensive wall will get a facelift and new, decorative nets will be installed along it. A new sidewalk will be constructed here, with Kota and Jaisalmer stone. Lawn, shrubs and greenery will be planned, officials said.
According to officials, the project is estimated to cost Rs 2.14 crore and the Mumbai civic body has appointed a contractor for the work. The company that has been shortlisted bid at 36 per cent less than the BMC’s estimate.
On the one hand, the BMC had cancelled the tender and confiscated the amount due to bidding less than 30 per cent in the maintenance contract of the parks. But in the development of this park, the contractor tried to get the work by bidding at a lower rate of about 37 per cent.
The proposal was to be tabled at the standing committee meeting on Tuesday for final approval. However, it did not come up for discussion but is expected to be taken up next week.
