Mumbai: Known to be a ‘Cricketing Cradle’, Dadar’s iconic Shivaji park is set to have a proper basketball court, football turf, an area for sports like Kho-Kho and Kabaddi and 1.5-km-long jogging track.
Originally proposed to protect the residents of Shivaji Park, Dadar, from dust issues they were grappling with, the project now aims to turn the park into a ‘multi-sports’ venue.
Over the years the upkeep of the ground has gone for a toss. “The poor upkeep of the park led to dust pollution in the area, air quality kept worsening.
Besides, the ground had developed potholes leading to water logging during the monsoon. Representatives from our locality raised the issue with local BMC office which resulted in the the initiative,” said Anant Patwardhan, a local resident.
Currently, the park has eight cricket pitches, football and tennis turf. Besides, it is also a venue for local sports like Mallakhamb. The civic body is now planning to enhance the existing facilities and set up a proper football ground, a basketball court and facilities for sports like Kho-kho and Kabaddi.
“Currently, the walkway outside the park is used for morning-evening walks and jogging. The design we have proposed will have a jogging track measuring 1.5-km-long within the ground,” said a sub-engineer, from G North ward.
However, implementing the design is going to be a herculean task for the civic body. While groundwater level in Shivaji Park is rapidly depleting BMC needs 2.64 lakh litres of water for its upkeep. The body currently manages to generate only 50,000 litres of water.
BMC is now looking at additional water sources and is planning to set up a sewerage treatment plant (STP) in the vicinity for generating recycled water.
“We have already conducted the contour survey and we are planning to have green lawns to resolve the problem of dust which has become a major problem for the residents of Shivaji park.
We have also carried out a Hydro-geological survey and identified that 50,000 sq metres of the ground will need around 2.64 lakh litres of water per day and thus setting up of an STP seems to be a feasible option, still we have left options open for more feasible sources of water,” said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of G/North ward (BMC).
While STP is one of the options, another option mentioned in the survey is to dig five-ring wells around the ground to store water. “We are also looking at reviving Shivaji Park’s ineffective rainwater harvesting system,” added Dighavkar.
