Please, Leave Mumbai’s Grounds Alone!
(A very angry Mumbaikar writes to the Maharashtra Government)
So, here we are again.
Mumbai has a shortage of open spaces. Mumbai has a shortage of playgrounds. Mumbai has children spending more and more time indoors, glued to screens. And what does our brilliant development machinery decide? Let’s take away another football ground.
The Neville D’Souza Football Ground at Bandra Reclamation — 8,450 square metres of FIFA-standard turf, one of the city’s few dedicated full-sized football venues — is now at the centre of a proposal to change its reservation from sports/playground to a convention and exhibition centre. The request came from MHADA, the landowner. BMC’s Improvements Committee cleared it in June, and the general body approved it this week.
MHADA’s story is clear and technical. The plot was originally earmarked as a Convention Complex under the Bandra Reclamation layout approved way back in 1983. In 2011 it was leased (initially temporarily) to the Mumbai Football Association. When DP 2034 was being prepared, BMC marked it as “Sports Ground and Playground” simply because a football ground already existed there. MHADA says that marking was temporary, the original reservation was never properly changed, and now they want the land restored to its intended commercial use so it can generate steady income. Fair enough on paper. Files have histories. Planning authorities have rights.
But sometimes common sense has to be bigger than a file.
This is not just another piece of land. This is a football ground. A place where thousands of children run, sweat, compete, lose, win, learn discipline and, perhaps, dream of becoming the next great Indian footballer. Nearly 300–400 clubs and hundreds of youth teams use it. Eight to ten thousand youngsters train here. It hosts league matches, championships, coaching programmes. It is named after Neville D’Souza, the first Asian to score an Olympic hat-trick. The football fraternity has already protested. The Mumbai Football Association has gone to the Bombay High Court.
So my humble question to the Maharashtra Government is: Why are you even eyeing these tiny little grounds?
If the objective is really “development”, and if Mumbai desperately needs money, infrastructure and commercial facilities, I have a few suggestions.
- Sell the Gateway of India. Prime real estate. Imagine the revenue!
- Lease out Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Who needs forests when we can have another mall or “world-class” project?
- And what about Aarey and the remaining mangroves? They are disappearing anyway — let’s make the process official.
- Reclaim the Arabian Sea all the way to the Sea Link. Mumbai needs land, doesn’t it?
Of course I am being sarcastic. But sometimes sarcasm is the only language left when common sense appears to have left the room.
Because once a playground disappears under concrete, it rarely comes back. A convention centre can be built somewhere else. We already have major exhibition and convention infrastructure in BKC and Worli, along with an enormous hospitality ecosystem. How many more convention centres does Mumbai need? Do we really have to sacrifice one of the city’s last proper football grounds for yet another one?
Or have we reached the stage where every open space must justify its existence by generating revenue? If that is the philosophy, perhaps the next step is obvious: hand over the entire city to one of the two corporate giants. At least then we will know exactly who is managing Mumbai. And if that model succeeds, Pune can be next. I even have a few places there that the government can explore!
Jokes apart, this is not about being anti-development. It is about asking what kind of development we want.
A city is not successful merely because it has more buildings. A successful city also has parks. Playgrounds. Trees. Footpaths. Public spaces. Places where children can run without their parents having to pay a membership fee.
We keep talking about encouraging sports, producing Olympians and making India a sporting powerhouse. But where exactly are our children supposed to play? We cannot expect the next generation to become footballers, cricketers or athletes while simultaneously taking away the very spaces where they learn to play.
And this is where I make a sincere appeal to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Please look at this decision once again.
To MHADA officials Sanjeev Jaiswal and BMC Commissioner Ashwini Bhide — both of you understand Mumbai and its extraordinary pressure on public spaces. You know what is happening to this city. Please reconsider. Let the convention centre come somewhere else. Let this ground remain a ground.
Let children play. Let them run. Let them sweat. Let them fall and get up. Let them discover football before they discover another video game.
Because one day, when we have turned every available square foot into concrete, we will realise what we lost. And by then, it will be too late.
So, dear Maharashtra Government: Have mercy. Don’t develop Mumbai to death. Let Mumbai breathe. Let Mumbai’s children play.
A VERY ANGRY MUMBAIKAR.
Vikrant Meena Hemant Joshi.
