Shiv Sena firm on theme park after Mahalaxmi race course lease ends

MUMBAI: With hours to go before the 99-year lease period of Royal Western India Turf Club ( RWITC), which maintains the Mahalaxmi race course, expires on Friday, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray reiterated on Friday that his party was firm on its demand for a state-of-the-art garden there.

"I will be submitting a plan in this regard to the chief minister," Uddhav told reporters here this evening.

"We want a theme park here. The race course can be shifted outside the city," Uddhav said. A proposal in this regard would be submitted by the Sena-controlled Mumbai civic body next week, he added.

Uddhav asked people to send suggestions or objections to the proposal.

Uddhav made it clear that he had never demanded that the garden be named after his late father Bal Thackeray.

The party has been demanding the construction of a garden on the portion of race course owned by the BMC.

Municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte said the civic body would be submitting a report to the state government on the race course issue.

The Mahalaxmi race course, set up in 1883, occupies 8.5 lakh square metres of open space - a vital green lung in the heart of the island city. Planners and activists have weighed in with options ranging from setting up a theme park, to building a public garden along the lines of London's Hyde Park.

The BMC owns 2.5 lakh square metres of the race course land, while the state owns the rest.

The state has not yet announced its decision, but Deputy Chief minister Ajit Pawar took on the Shiv Sena-led BMC by saying that the race course must be preserved in its current condition. Pawar said it is imperative that the government does not allow anyone to mess with the last remaining open patches in the city.