Having tried and failed to erect a grand memorial for its late chief Bal Thackeray at historic Shivaji Park, the Shiv Sena has now set its eyes on the sprawling 225 acre Mahalaxmi Race Course land, where it proposes to develop it as a public garden-cum-theme park along the lines of one in New York and name it after Balasaheb.
Following up on a letter shot off recently by the ruling Shiv Sena’s Mumbai Mayor Sunil Prabhu to Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte proposing to develop a public garden-cum-theme park at Mahalaxmi Race Course, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said on Monday that his party would welcome any move to name the proposed garden after late Sena supremo.
The Sena’s proposal to develop a public garden-cum-theme park at Mahalaxmi Race Course in south-central Mumbai comes in the run-up to the expiry of a 99-year lease of the 225-acre land had been given to Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) for the Mahalaxmi Race Course.
Way back in 1914, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had given the 225-acre green space on a lease to the RWITC for 99 years. The lease period expires on May 31, 2013.
In his letter to Kunte, the Mumbai Mayor has asked the BMC not to renew the lease of the 225 acre Mahalaxmi Race Course land given to RWITC, as it wanted to develop a public garden-cum-theme park there.
Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a function here, Uddhav Thackeray explained the objective behind the Sena’s proposal to develop a public garden-cum-theme park at Mahalaxmi Race Course and said: “My sincere proposal is to develop such a public garden on the Mahalaxmi Race Course land so as facilitate the ordinary Mumbaikars to spend a whole day with their family members there. If somebody moots the idea of naming the public garden after late Balasaheb, we will welcome it”.
Though Uddhav is not openly mooting the idea of naming the proposed public garden at Mahalaxmi Race Course after his late father Balasaheb who passed away on November 17 last year, the Shiv Sena is going whole hog with its proposal to develop a public garden-cum-theme park on the race course land.
Apart from developing a public garden-cum-theme park along the lines of the famous one in New York, the Shiv Sena wants to name the place after its late chief, build a memorial for him and set up a gallery of cartoons drawn by Balasaheb in his lifetime, there.