Mumbai : Lush green lawns, sprawling flower beds, a lily pond, a futuristic looking canopy for shade-loving plants, fully-grown trees dotting the vast park, a hillock with a spiraling pathway ascending it…. This is not an advertisement for an upcoming housing complex on the outskirts of the city but a 14-acre public garden within a five-minute walk from Dadar West railway station.
The garden which was a sewage treatment plant (STP) on Senapati Bapat Marg will be formally inaugurated only after the elections. It is named after the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan and is a brainchild of the BMC’s Sewerage Operations (SO) department. Developed at a cost of Rs 29 crore, the project also houses a cafetaria and two six-storey office buildings for the SO department and the Storm Water Drainage department respectively.
The STP closed down in 1999 and the BMC Standing Committee decided to convert it into a garden. However, the proposal was only accepted in 2007, after which the work started, said a civic official.
Statistics aside, the best feature of the Pramod Mahajan garden is its ‘ziggurat’. In simple words, this is a hillock with a spiraling pathway ascending it and the sight which greets on its final step will take your breath away. With a small lawn covering an erstwhile digester, this space is encircled with benches overlooking the entire expanse, reminding one of a quaint little garden on any hill station. One can only imagine how beautiful the garden will look from this spot during the rains, and a steaming hot cup of coffee from the garden’s very own cafetaria will only add to its charm. It is difficult to believe that such a space even exists in Mumbai.
The lily-pond has few buds right now but is expected to be in full bloom by the time the garden opens to public. The canopy will form a refuge area not just for those avoiding a sudden spell of rain but also to those who are seeking for an oxygen-refill in the otherwise polluted area of Dadar.
The 100-odd large trees in the garden include Ashok, Mango, Jamun, coconut, Gulmohur, Putranjeeva, Banyan, Peepul, ber, badaam etc. At the same time, the smaller plants include 12 types of hibiscus, raatrani, parijatak, madhumaalti, nishigandha etc and are a visual treat for starved eyes. The shade-loving shrubs under the canopy have a short life and will be changed every three months. The pots in which they have been planted also have creepers put around them which will grow to cover the brown encasing. In all, the garden has about 2.5 lakh plants in its premises.
The BMC is yet to appoint a contractor for the cafetaria, security officials, maintenance officials etc. And so, the contractor who has constructed it is maintaining it right now. His consultancy period also ends in November, after which the garden will be inaugurated.
