Residents object to Five gardens & Dadar Parsi Colony in two separate wards

Mumbai: One week after the 236 redrawn electoral ward boundaries were released for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls 2022, residents of Dadar Parsi Colony have come out opposing Five Gardens and Parsi Colony being kept in two different electoral wards.

The residents have said that the breaking of the ward was partially done before the 2017 civic polls, and partially during the current exercise of redrawing ward boundaries. Sheroy Daver, the great-grandson of Mancherji Edulji Joshi, a prominent Parsi civil engineer and municipal corporator, who developed the Dadar Parsi Colony along with the 14 open spaces, said that they have submitted their objection to the authorities on February 04, 2022, citing that they do not see any sense in the authorities keeping the gardens and the colony in two separate electoral wards.

The Macherji Edulji Joshi Residents Association (MEJCRA), for which Daver is the secretary, said that they have also started an online petition for which they have got support from over 5,500 signatories, who belong from every community and not only limited to the Parsi community.

Daver said, “Starting the last BMC elections in 2017, the exclusion was started. Dadar Parsi Colony being a Heritage precinct with one corporator, will not only ensure better facilitation of the precinct but also ensure greater accountability in preserving it. By dividing this, there will be no benefit to anyone considering these are just open spaces and there are no voters residing here. Hence, it is our demand that five gardens be reinstated to ward 184 that also has Dadar Parsi Colony, which is an arrangement for 90 years now.”

The state cabinet, in November 2021, had cleared a proposal to increase the strength of the Mumbai civic body from 227 to 236 members. Following the decision, the urban development department amended the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, to change the composition of the corporation. The state government said that the move was necessary owing to the growth in the city’s population in the past two decades.

Following this, the BMC redrew the electoral ward boundaries in the city and submitted them to the state election commission. Post this, the commission accepted the boundaries and the BMC invited suggestions and objections for 14 days starting February 01, 2022. The BMC polls 2022 are expected to take place in the last week of March or first week of April.

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