The Pune Mahanagar Palika Udyan, located near the Gool Poonawalla Garden, was inaugurated in November 2021. However, last month Bhimale put up a board naming the garden after his father, the late Yashwantrao Bhimale. Residents of Salisbury Park in Pune have been up in arms since BJP corporator Shrinath Bhimale sought to rename a corporation garden after his father. Over the past three weeks, they have demonstrated silently, lighted diyas and organised a car rally in protest.
The Pune Mahanagar Palika Udyan, located near the Gool Poonawalla Garden, was inaugurated in November 2021. However, last month Bhimale put up a board naming the garden after his father, the late Yashwantrao Bhimale. An online petition for the removal of the new board, started by journalist Vinita Deshmukh, has garnered 883 signatures.
The saga of the garden started in the 1990s when the plot was leased out by the Pune municipal corporation. The land was meant for a reserved garden but it was illegally de-reserved to be handed over to a prominent city builder.
Prakash Kardaley, resident editor of The Indian Express at the time, formed a committee under the Express Citizen’s Forum to magnify the issue and was joined by several residents, such as NP Bhog, Col V P Taneja (retd), Gopesh Mehta, late DR Briganza, late Phillips and late Kapadia.
“The members of the forum had petitioned the municipality and moved court. The corporation was asked to pay Rs 6 crore to the district administration and take over the land, but with pressure from local corporator Shrinath Bhimale and the forum, the compensation was hiked to Rs18 crore by the Supreme Court in 2015. Bhimale also played a pivotal role in ensuring that the sum was paid by the corporation,” said Faizal Poonawala, chairman of the Salisbury Park Residents Forum.
After the corporation took over the land, which was being used for waste disposal, the work began. “The work got delayed owing to the pandemic. The garden was to be inaugurated on November 25, Bhimale’s birth anniversary. In a meeting with Bhimale, it was again discussed that the garden will not be named after an individual or be associated with a political party,” said Poonawala.
“We came to know that he got the name approved at the general body of the corporation in March 2020. We were totally in the dark about this and it came to light when we approached the corporation with a protest letter to the commissioner, assistant commissioner, and the garden superintendent. The corporation said that only if Bhimale revokes his application can the name be changed because there is no system in place for changing names. The general body resolution of 2000 says that public gardens can be named after national public figures and national-level environmentalists. Stating this, we wrote to the corporation that the name change is illegal. We also had a word with the BJP’s Madhuri Misal,” added Poonawala.
Poonawala said that while the residents of Salisbury Park acknowledged Bhimale’s efforts, the renaming of the garden seemed “to be an attempt to hog the limelight”. “The struggle behind the land was a struggle of many people and not just one person. To give Bhimale his due, we suggested that a plaque be put up with names of the individuals who fought for the garden and the land, including Bhimale’s. I spoke to him about the idea, he is yet to get back,” he said.
According to Poonawala, the residents prefer that either the garden be named Salisbury Park Garden or the old board be put back.
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