Earlier than the Byculla Zoo bungalow was constructed, Mumbai’s mayors lived in Dadar Shivaji Park, which has now been transformed right into a memorial to Bal Thackeray. Though many of the building work has been accomplished, the monument is at present closed to the general public.
Shiv Sena’s Vishwanath Mahadeshwar and Kishori Pednekar had earlier walked by way of the halls of Vikala Bungalow.
Mr. Mahadeshwar was the primary mayor to reside on this bungalow after vacating his Shivaji Park residence. He moved into his official residence on January 20, 2019, the place he remained till the tip of his time period.
From November 2019 to March 2022, Sena’s Kishori Pednekar was the mayor and lived on this home.
“I’ve so many reminiscences in that bungalow. From my son’s marriage ceremony to my stick with the employees who have been confined as a result of Covid-19, my reminiscences are very candy and unforgettable,” former mayor Pednekar instructed ThePrint.
Since then, the bungalow has been empty.
After final month’s company elections, Mahayuti is predicted to kind the BMC authorities and the BJP will probably be contesting the mayor’s publish for the primary time.
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Shivaji Park Mayor’s Bungalow
This Victorian-era construction was constructed practically a century in the past in 1928 because the residence of Queen Bikaner. Later, the British used the premises for archival storage.
Spanning 4 acres, the constructing is a Grade II listed heritage constructing and is a big landmark for the realm, defining the realm’s id and permitting for inner modifications and adaptive reuse.
A curving driveway results in the bungalow and a backyard within the yard. Coconut and mango bushes line the perimeter of the ocean-facing bungalow, and waves frequently lap towards the fence behind it.
After independence in 1962, the BMC purchased the bungalow because the mayor’s official residence and spent practically Rs 1.5 million on renovations. The primary mayor to remain on this mansion was Dr BP Devgi in 1964-1965. Since then, 76 mayors of Bombay/Mumbai have labored and rested inside its partitions.
The constructing dealing with the ocean is one story above floor. There are two halls on the bottom flooring, every measuring 500 sq. toes. There may be additionally a kitchen and 300 sq. foot VIP room. The higher bungalow has 4 bedrooms.
After the flip of the twentieth century, the bungalow underwent beauty renovations for upkeep functions.
In 1966, Bal Thackeray based the Shiv Sena social gathering and held its first rally at Shivaji Park Floor, reverse the mayor’s bungalow. Since then, this bungalow has been witness to Bal Thackeray’s thunderous speeches for the following 4 a long time.
This property could be very near the middle of Thackerays and Shiv Sainiks. In keeping with the Shiv Sainiks, Bal Thackeray visited the bungalow earlier than addressing the Dussehra rally and frolicked with the Shiv Sainiks and the mayor earlier than heading to the park.
Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s ties with the mayor’s bungalow have been even deeper. After I wished to satisfy company our bodies or MLAs, I most popular bungalows dealing with the ocean.
This bungalow can be a witness to a now historic occasion wherein the then Residence Minister of Maharashtra Chhagan Bhujbal did what nobody else had carried out earlier than. Bhujbal was as soon as a disciple of Bal Thackeray, however in 1990 he parted methods with the Shiv Sena and joined the Nationalist Congress Occasion;
When the Congress-NCP got here to energy within the state in 1999, Bhujbal grew to become deputy minister and residential minister. He then issued an order to arrest Bal Thackeray in a case associated to hate speech and frightening communal enmity by way of editorials. SamanaSenna’s mouthpiece.
Thackeray didn’t wish to be arrested from his house Matoshree and didn’t wish to go to the police station, so he headed to his sea-facing bungalow.
With the complete metropolis on edge, Thackeray was arrested from this bungalow in an unprecedented case and was arraigned within the Bhoiwada Justice of the Peace courtroom virtually half an hour later. He was launched inside an hour.
After Bal Thackeray’s demise, the Shiv Sena was searching for a spot to erect a memorial to him and his household wished to erect one in Dadar.
In 2017, the BMC determined to transform the sea-facing bungalow right into a memorial to late Bal Thackeray. The final physique of the BMC company accepted a proposal to lease out the bungalow to a belief arrange by the state authorities for its enterprise at a nominal annual charge of Re 1 for the following 30 years. Nonetheless, the development of the monument needed to be carried out with out touching or damaging present historic buildings.
Later, the mayor’s official residence was moved to a bungalow within the Vikala Zoo.
“That previous Shivaji Park bungalow was stunning and everybody who stayed there beloved it. We have been fortunate to remain there,” Pooja Mahadeshwar, Shiv Sena-UBT company founder and spouse of late Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, instructed ThePrint.
The Mahadeshwar household final stayed in a bungalow at Shivaji Park, the place they stayed for two-and-a-half years.
“It was a problem to remain there as a result of it was fairly a historic property. As I used to be standing on the primary flooring porch, I might see folks peeking by way of the gates. Only a glimpse of it,” Pooja Mahadeshwar mentioned.
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Bikula Mayors Bungalow
After the choice to transform Dadar bungalow into Bal Thackeray memorial, Byculla bungalow was chosen.
“When the query of the place to maneuver the mayor arose, we had two choices earlier than us: Malabar Hill and Bykala. However Malabar Hill is the final cease in Mumbai and was far-off for folks coming from north Mumbai and different components of the town. Since Bykala was centrally situated and other people might simply journey there, Uddhav Saheb mentioned he ought to transfer right here,” Kishori Pednekar mentioned.
Nonetheless, some Shiv Sainiks, together with the then mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, opposed this resolution and wished the Malabar Hill bungalow for use because the mayor’s official residence.
On the time, Mr. Mahadeshwar objected to the residence as he feared it could be in a silence zone and wouldn’t have the ability to management the inflow of crowds. He mentioned staying there would disturb the zoo’s atmosphere. Actions are prohibited within the space after 6 p.m., which he thought might impede the holding of the mayor’s occasion. He wrote a letter to the then metropolis commissioner Ajoy Mehta, stating that the bungalow’s small dimension might make it tough to satisfy, particularly with senior officers and overseas representatives.
Nonetheless, he later relented. The Mahadeshwar household stayed within the bungalow for simply six months earlier than Kishori Pednekar moved in.
“When Uddhav Saheb instructed us, we needed to transfer. Naturally, we felt slightly unhappy to depart that bungalow, however we weren’t indignant,” Pooja Mahadeshwar mentioned.
For Pednekar, that calm serenity was much more stunning.
“There is no such thing as a higher peace than being surrounded by nature and animals. This bungalow was very quiet. In that Dadar bungalow, you would at all times hear the sound of waves and the noise of automobiles in entrance,” she mentioned.
“After I entered the mayor’s bungalow for the primary time, I seen that there was no portrait of Babasaheb Ambedkar. As I took cost in November, I instantly put in {a photograph} of Ambedkar on the entrance on December 6,” she added.
Byculla Bungalow, which is a part of Byculla Zoo, can be a heritage constructing. It is roughly 6,000 sq. toes with a garden within the yard. Further municipal commissioners of the BMC used to remain on this bungalow earlier than it grew to become the mayor’s residence.
The present mayor’s bungalow is a one-story construction with a big corridor for conferences and official capabilities on the primary flooring, and a small bed room with a balcony and a master suite on the second flooring.
After being elected, Pednekar moved into the mayor’s bungalow in Bykulla in November 2019 and invested the following few years in redesigning the bungalow with natural world.
“I do not care what anybody says, however I am deeply non secular. I planted bushes in my yard. I planted eight.” Audunbar tree (cluster fig). 4 bushes have been standing shut collectively in a single nook. We transformed that space with a cover and constructed a bench there. “We made it Swami Katha. Since then, our employees nonetheless meditates right here for 10 to fifteen minutes each day,” Pednekar mentioned.
She added that the entrance backyard couldn’t be modified as a result of protocols, and mentioned she had additionally created two ponds within the again backyard “with lotuses that bloom occasionally.”
Pednekar mentioned certainly one of her most cherished reminiscences inside the home was her son’s marriage ceremony. The marriage was held in 2021 in the course of the pandemic and all protocols have been adopted. “…certainly one of my happiest reminiscences.”
This bungalow is connected to the enduring Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan/Rani Baug/Vikra Zoo and continues to be labeled as a silent zone.
“So I might hear the roars of Shakti and Karishma (the zoo’s tigers) occasionally. It was very soothing. Generally the elephants (who handed away just a few years in the past) would additionally make noises, which I might hear,” Pednekar mentioned.
The bungalow additionally has stray cats, and Pednekar mentioned 12 cats got here to the bungalow when he first moved in, however the quantity has since elevated to 24. “We nonetheless ship 2.5 liters of milk and fish for the cats,” she mentioned.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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