By: Express News ServiceMumbai | September 15, 2025 10:56 PM IST 3 min readMumbai BJP president and Andheri West MLA Ameet Satam on Monday called for a stay on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) interim policy on open spaces and not allot the open spaces to private parties to ensure that the city’s shrinking spaces are protected. In a letter, Satam said the civic body can regulate advertising in the open pockets in a manner that can generate revenue for their maintenance.At present, the BMC has an interim policy which enables private parties, trusts and institutions to take over the open spaces and maintain them for a 11-month contractual period. However, pointing to the absence of comprehensive open spaces, Satam flagged concerns over the open spaces being permanently converted into clubs, gymkhanas for raking in profits. “There is a lot of concern in the city regarding open spaces, potential of them being usurped by vested interests,” wrote Ameet Satam, in his letter.“The city is of the view that all open spaces should compulsorily be maintained only by BMC and not handed over to any private party, trust, organization or institution and BMC can have regulated advertising in these open spaces to generate revenue,” he added.Satam also pointed to the previous attempts by the opposition garnered by the BMC over its attempts at framing new open spaces policy. For the record, nearly two years ago, the BMC had floated a new proposal for open spaces in September 2023 which proposed transfer of ownership of civic body’s open spaces to private caretakers under a caretaker policy, where they can lease spaces for a five-year period. However, the contentious policy had drawn flak across quarters.“Once a trust or private party occupies space, it becomes extremely difficult to evict them and it becomes a strong base for them to continue occupation. It has been observed that some trusts are making applications under an 11-month interim policy with vested interests to occupy before policy is finalised. BMC must ensure that no open space in the city is given under the 11-month interim policy and BMC should maintain all open spaces,” Satam said, urging the civic body to refrain from allocating any new spaces to private parties until a citizen-friendly policy is framed.Data furnished by the civic body shows that there are 359 playgrounds, 404 recreational grounds and 346 gardens in the city.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMCMaharashtra BJP