Mhada allows nets again at Rohit’s school, for a yr

Mumbai: State agency Mhada on Friday awarded a no-objection certificate to Swami Vivekanand International School, Gorai, the alma mater of cricketer Rohit Sharma, to rebuild the sports turf and nylon nets which it had demolished over Wednesday-Thursday. Mhada had razed the football and cricket nets after determining that the area was being put to "commercial use."
As per Friday's NOC, the trust may erect a turf spanning 32m x 16m x 8m. For this, the school will pay Mhada a year's rental fee of Rs 2.84 lakh and a security deposit of similar amount, effectively paying a total sum of Rs 5.7 lakh towards the use of the ground. The school trust will not be allowed to put the turf and nets to commercial use, or sublet the plot, or create any ownership or third party rights. The NOC issued on March 7, 2025 is valid for one year, till March 6, 2026. The shed will be of temporary nature.
Mhada's chief officer of Mumbai Board, Milind Borikar, said, "The school's managing trustee Sandeep Goenka and cricket coach Dinesh Lad met us on Friday. The trustee assured us they will not put the turf to commercial use. Based on his assurance, we have granted permission to the school to erect the nets, which they will do in two weeks... The NOC is typically valid for one year."
Coach Dinesh Lad, a Dronacharya Award winner, was happy. "I am thankful to Mhada authorities. We have started free cricket training for girls as well recently, and this cancellation would have jeopardised our effort. So many more champions can be churned out from this ground," he said.
School principal Amrita Verma said she learnt of Mhada's NOC from the trustees. Goenka, school trustee, said, "It was a big misunderstanding based on some false complaints. We are thankful to Mhada... to have understood our point of view, and extending full cooperation and issuing us the permission letter benefiting thousands of students."
The trust has a lease on the plot from 1994 for 90 years, till Dec 2084. This one-year permission is for putting up the turf, said Goenka.
A Mhada spokesperson said, "The school had previously submitted requests on Feb 2, 2022, and June 1, 2022, seeking permission to install a turf and a nylon net shed on the adjacent playground. In response, Mhada's Mumbai Board issued an NOC on Dec 1, 2023 for one year, with a condition prohibiting commercial use of the facility." Until 2022-23, Mhada was not aware of the alleged misuse of the turf.
"But complaints were received regarding commercial usage of the net shed playground. Additionally, as the one-year NOC period had expired, Mhada issued a notice instructing the school to remove the net shed. When it failed to comply and did not dismantle the structure, Mhada, with police assistance, removed the net shed on March 5-6, 2025."