On Tuesday, Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench manifested their crypt concerns about rapidly ‘disappearing’ green cover and open spaces from urban India. Thereof, it struck down a tender by Nagpur Municipal Corporation to commercialise a park as well as stated that cities are briskly becoming a concrete jungle.
A bench comprising of Justice Sunil Square and Justice Anil Kilor remarked that with each progressing year and the new census reports, the population commencing in the urban areas is increasing, as cities would turn to be the bustling economies of future.
“Population is so congested in the lanes and streets of colonies in cities that people hardly find a place to relax,” said the bench disconcerted by a sharp drop in green cover in cities. The another raising concern amidst the green areas appearing to be fading at a sky-high rate is the affect that is being played on the children since they scarcely obtain any area outside their houses to play and event natural environment.
The bench manifested a significant and urgent need for protecting parks and gardens as they are the deary ornaments of the localities while deciding a PIL filed by a civic action guild foundation, Nagpur.
It was filed in the PIL by the NGO, that it probed the legality of the tender issued by Nagpur Municipal Corporation in July 2020 for engaging a contractor to maintain a children’s park. The clauses in the tender particularly aggrieved since it allowed the contractor to commercialise the open space by setting up their own sports complex, swimming pool, restaurant etc.
HC credited the arguments advanced on behalf of the petitioner body that the park was already undergoing an unauthorised development, and the civic body could not further permit the tender.
“There is no doubt that if the park is used for commercial purposes, it may frustrate the purpose for which the said open space has been reserved in the final development plan,” said the bench and struck down the tender.
The bench also directed the Nagpur Municipal Corporation to inspect if the construction done by far was in alignment with the development regulations and the expanded needs of protecting open and green spaces.
(-By Sonia Dahiya:Intern)
