JOIN USThe 133-year-old Joseph Baptista Gardens, located at the Bhandrawada Hill in Mazagaon area of south Mumbai is being transformed –and it would house miniatures of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has already started working on the Rs 2.60-crore project.
The idea was mooted by former corporator Yamini Jadhav, whose husband Yashwant Jadhav is the Leader of the House and a sitting corporator.
The replicas to come up here include The Statue of Christ The Redeemer (Brazil), State of Liberty (USA), Leaning Tower of Pisa and The Colosseum (both, Italy), Eiffel Tower (France), Chichen Itza Pyramid (Mexico) and the Taj Mahal (India).
Each replica will come up on specially designed plots inside the garden and include a brief history and description of the particular monument, to be decorated by special colour-changing LED lights and special lamps.
"Not only it is going to boost tourism, it would also educate people about these tourist spots," said an official of the BMC.
The Joseph Baptista Gardens, locally known as the Mazagaon Gardens, has a rich history.
It lies atop Bhandarwada hill, behind the Dockyard Road railway station, at an altitude of 32 m and offers a panoramic view of the Mumbai harbour and the southern business district of the city.
It was originally named after John Hay Grant, the Municipal Commissioner of Bombay (1877–1881), who built the public garden spread over 1.5 acres (0.6 ha) above a water reservoir between 1880–1884.
Shortly after India's independence in 1947, the gardens, was named after Joseph Baptista, a freedom fighter.
After the British arrived in Bombay in the 1660s, they selected Bhandarwala Hill, a basalt rocky outcrop as a site for the Mazagon Fort, that was built in 1680.
However, the fort was completely razed by Siddi ruler Yakut Khan after he withdrew his siege on the orders of the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb.
In 1884, to address the water shortage, Britishers brought water from the Vihar lake (at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park) and stored at the Bhandarwala Hill for further distribution.