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After residents refuse, BMC to bear the cost of illuminating Marine Drive buildings

By Hindustan Times

Mumbai After Marine Drive residents refused to shell out the big bucks to illuminate their buildings for Independence Day, the BMC has decided to bear the cost itself. The civic body has earmarked a R50 lakh-budget to illuminate 28 private buildings in the heritage precinct.

“The BMC will bear the cost of all the private heritage buildings that are located in the Marine Drive sea-face, while the commercial buildings will be paying for their own cost. This is the 75th year of independence and Marine Drive is a prominent location that is known throughout the country; therefore, it was important to get it illuminated with the tricolour,” Shivadas Gurav, assistant municipal commissioner, told HT on Wednesday.

Gurav said that several residents living in the heritage structures had expressed their interest in illuminating the buildings but were not going ahead because it was proving to be too expensive, at ₹1.5 lakh for three days.

Apart from residential buildings, commercial establishments and hotels on the promenade will also be illuminating their properties at their own cost. “Other prominent commercial buildings like the LIC building, HSBC and SBI headquarters will also take part in the drive,” Gurav added.

Earlier this month, BMC’s A ward office had written to the Marine Drive residents living in the art-deco buildings urging them to illuminate their properties with tricoloured LED lights to mark the 75th year of India’s independence and to celebrate the PM’s pet project ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’. The cost to illuminate each building for three days was pegged at ₹1.57 lakh plus 18% GST.

Ashok Gupta, vice president of the Marine Drive Citizens’ Association (MDCA), who had declined the BMC’s offer of paying for the illumination, said that he has received a set of new guidelines from the local civic ward office stating that while the BMC will bear the overall cost, the building owners will have to provide the electricity connections.

“We are ready to bear the power cost since this is the 75th year of Independence and we need to celebrate it in a grand way. Earlier also we wanted to take part in this campaign, but we were compelled to withdraw since it appeared to be a costly affair for us,” said Gupta.

Harshita Narwekar, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator from this area who has been holding several meetings with residents to make sure the illumination drive is successful, stated that the BMC’s move will come as a respite to Marine Drive residents.

“The BMC’s decision to bear the cost is like a load off for the citizens because a lot of societies are already under renovation and it’s difficult to pay such a hefty amount for just three days of illumination. The local citizens are excited to take part in this drive and the cost should not act as a deterrent for them,” said Narwekar.

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