State tourism body drops ‘Times Square’ plan for Kalaghoda

Officials from the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) last week had a joint meeting with representatives from the Kalaghoda Association, the traffic police, the city collector and the project consultant.

Valsa Nair Singh, secretary of the state’s tourism and culture department, said, “Keeping in mind the heritage structures of that area, we decided to drop elements like the big billboards and screens. We will now essentially be pedestrianizing the precinct. It will be sort of a fair with jugglers, food stalls, shopping and so on. We can even think of illumination of the building facades, like we have done with the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, as long as it does not spoil the heritage aspect of the precinct.”

She added that if residents’ associations across Mumbai came up with more such proposals for development of open spaces or to promote art and culture in the city’s spaces, MTDC would be happy to support them.

Originally, the Union government had envisioned a grand plan for the Kala Ghoda square to be implemented with Maharashtra’s tourism department in phases, with Rs 5 crore sanctioned for the first phase. The plan involved erecting large billboards for advertisements and videos, high-resolution cameras to transmit live images of people in the area on the screen and live Internet streaming. The government was to also pave the pedestrian area with stone slabs, create an amphitheatre-like atmosphere by constructing steps for visitors to sit on and encourage street performances. Film and cartoon characters would mill around the area offering photo opportunities for visitors.

An MTDC official, who did not wish to be named, said, “The consultant preparing a detailed report on the project will also come up with a more local name for it, something like ‘Mumbai Adda.’ If this project is a success, we can consider more such areas to pedestrianize and promote art and culture on the streets. One such area that we are considering is Fashion Street. We can use the same name and logo for such spaces in the city.”

As of now, the plan is to close the Kalaghoda precinct for vehicles from about 6.30-7 pm on weekends up to midnight, or earlier, depending on permissions from the Mumbai police. “The traffic police have expressed a concern that the traffic coming from the Eastern Freeway could be hampered due to this. We will take the necessary steps in consultation with them to ensure that does not happen. We will also have to be careful about the kind of activities that we allow here as there is a synagogue, a church and a court in the vicinity.”

He added that it could take about three months more for the detailed project report to be finalized after which the MTDC will submit the report to the Union tourism ministry.