NAVI MUMBAI: There is bother brewing in Navi Mumbai’s oldest and largest membership, Navi Mumbai Sports Association (NMSA), over the laying of synthetic turf and the development of a basketball court docket.

Several members have undertaken a signature marketing campaign and requested City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) to halt the work, which they declare will additional cut back the open house out there for members and allege that the infrastructure is being constructed just for industrial beneficial properties. Members say vested pursuits are concerned within the plan.

NMSA, of which MLA Ganesh Naik has been the president for years, has been allotted 9 acres of land in Vashi by CIDCO for an annual token lease of ₹1. It has a cricket floor on 4 acres, a soccer floor on an acre, and it additionally boasts of a pathway, bathrooms, a basketball court docket, a swimming pool and a backyard.

According to Ankush Vaiti, a signatory to the letter to CIDCO, “The infrastructure already constructed has considerably reduced the playground area. The mud pathway that members, particularly senior citizens, use will be lost. These are old members, who no longer use the other facilities, just this.”

He added, “There is already a non-synthetic football ground, which is let out and hence, is of little use to the members. The new facilities are also intended to be let out for commercial gains. The members will be denied its usage.”

Said Vaiti, “There is also the issue of legality of the club renting out the facility to outsiders for commercial gain. The decision has been taken arbitrarily by some committee members, who have not taken the approval of the general body for the projects costing around ₹1cr.”

Said Sandeep Thakur, an RTI activist who can be a member, “What sense does it make to have two football grounds? The ordinary members are not able to use even the first one. There is no planning and everything is coming up on an ad hoc basis without proper filling, drainage etc.”

Alleged Thakur, “The problem is that some people, who are not in power, need money to contest elections and hence, this is a good way to get it. It would have been better for us if they had been in power as the club would have got some benefits.”

There are variations inside the managing committee too. Said Dr Dilip Rane, vp of NMSA, “We have FIFA certified football ground, ITF certified tennis court, badminton and other world class infrastructure already in NMSA. We have players competing at national and international level. We tried giving Olympic standard swimming pool as well, unfortunately, it was demolished by NMMC citing commercial exploitation as the reason.”

He acknowledged, “All these years we have ensured that the members are not burdened with the cost of the infrastructure being developed. I feel we need to maintain the infrastructure that we have at present to the best standards rather than resorting to undertaking new developments which will burden the members.”

Refuting the costs, Sanjay Nikam, treasurer of NMSA mentioned, “There is no vested interest to the plan, there is just some misunderstanding. As per the plan, 2.5m wide space has been left on the periphery of the ground for the pathway. We are also developing a drainage system so that it can be usable in monsoon as well.”

Speaking on the infrastructure, Nikam mentioned, “The present football ground was developed at a huge cost and is a high maintenance asset, which requires four water tankers daily. Some people want Astroturf (artificial turf) to be laid on it after demolishing it. It does not make sense after spending so much on it. We are working on getting STP water for it from NMMC through a pipeline to reduce cost.”

He acknowledged, “Astro Turfs are in big demand within the metropolis with the youth. Income from such a facility will assist us deal with the rising bills of the membership resulting from elevated salaries, property tax, upkeep and so forth. “

Said Nikam, “There are no legal issues with us letting out the facility for commercial gains as we are not an educational institution given land by CIDCO. We want to provide modern facilities to our members while at the same time ensuring financial viability.”