'Mr PM, Mr CM, please help us save our ground': Mumbai football fraternity protests BMC's convention centre plan

MUMBAIS football fraternity came together as one strong team on Sunday to protest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporationrsquos BMC decision to turn the Neville DSouza ground in Bandra West into a convention centreThe Mumbai Football Association MFA organises tournaments where thousands of city footballers across age groups and from 300 clubs play the beautiful game at this ground yearround However its lease expired a few months ago and the government wants to step in to change its purposeOn June 24 the BMCs Improvements Committee officially approved the proposal to change the landuse reservation of the ground This essentially means that BMC has approved the redesignation of the 8450sqm plot from a Sports Ground and Playground to an Exhibition Centre The proposal will next be sent to the General Body of the BMC for final approvalExIndia internationals including Mohammed Yusuf Ansari Godfrey Pereira Santosh Kashyap Steven Dias and Aqeel Ansari who are currently guiding footballers through their coaching raised their voices along with several footballers and their parents on Sunday Member of Parliament Varsha Gaikwad too was present during the protestFormer footballersrsquo pleasYou have plenty of places where you can make a convention centre so why do they want this ground I request that the government let football grow We always ask why India is not in the Football World Cup This is the reason We have no infrastructure said Godfrey PereiraItrsquos very sad to see that we need to save our ground I think there is a pure political reason behind it because itrsquos a prime place in Bandra I would like to request our Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Prime Minister Narendra Modi saheb to help us save our ground said Mohammed Yusuf AnsariAccording to Santosh Kashyap This ground is in the heart of the city and very convenient to all players Actually they should convert this ground into a good stadium with every facility We hardly have football grounds in Mumbai I request the government to help us save this ground and make us a strong football nationAs a player I started playing matches at Cooperage ground but I started my coaching at this very ground More than 12000 kids play at this ground If the football ground is not there what will they do Maybe they will go down the wrong path stated Steven DiaslsquoPlease renew our leasersquoMFA Secretary Sudhakar Rane told midday ldquoOur 300 senior and 300 junior teams have been playing at this ground for the last 11 years Our lease for this ground was till October 2023 And we are trying to have a new lease We have only one ground they government have to renew our lease otherwise where will we go Football will suffer hugelyrdquoBandra residents sayhellipAlan Abraham an architect and urban planner said an open space is not a luxury or a visual amenity but a basic urban infrastructure mdash like water or transportldquoThe issue in HWest Ward is not just land availability but access management and equity Open spaces sports and clean air are highly overrated in our country The assault on and sale of our public spaces is appalling Redevelopment cannot simply add buildings it must also deliver a proportionate increase in public spaces civic amenities and social infrastructurerdquo he saidAccording to Abraham with just 087 sq m of public open space per person HWest wards population of 321 lakh residents faces a severe deficit compared to the World Health Organizations minimum standard of nine square metresThis shortage is heavily compounded by structural barriers including widespread privatisation 30 per cent of Bandras open spaces are restricted or private for every sq m of open space 21 sq m is privatised restricted operational hours during the day and a complete lack of public waterbased recreation despite a 42 km coastline Naazish Shah a resident of Carter Road said ldquoWe realise there is a lack of open space in our vicinity and in Mumbai overall Now the only existing playground in Bandra will have construction on top of it How is this even logicalrdquo