Fine visitors littering Kamala Nehru Park, locals tell BMC

MUMBAI: Malabar Hill residents have complained of visitors dumping waste inside Kamla Nehru Park as well as on the hill adjoining it.

Local residents said the visitors litter the park and the hillside with empty water bottles and snack packets, despite the presence of bins in the park. They want BMC to deploy additional security personnel, besides imposing fines on those who litter.

“Throughout the day, only one gate of Kamala Nehru Park is kept open due to a shortage of security personnel and there are not enough personnel to check visitors’ bags. Therefore, monitoring of the visitors is difficult for staffers present in the park. Since a large number of visitors come to the park, some responsibility for enforcing the rules lies with the citizens too. We cannot expect everything to be done by the civic body,” said Pervin Sanghvi, a resident of Malabar Hill. “When it starts raining, all of this non-biodegradable waste will mingle with the soil and pollute it,” Sanghvi added.

An official associated with maintenance of the park said, “We allow water bottles to be taken inside since it is summer now. Besides, we have a demarcated eating area within the park and have installed bins for garbage. The entry is not restricted and there is no fee. What can we do if people do not have civic sense and dump waste, sometimes even on the lawn? BMC’s security department deploys its own personnel and some private personnel too. We keep two gates open, but we cannot monitor all the people who come in.”

The official said aspects such as imposition of fines and deployment of additional manpower will have to be decided by the administration. “It will be good, if they deploy clean-up marshals here,” the official added.