Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies are planning to convert the Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi Public District Sports Complex in Dharavi, conceived by Eknath Gaikwad, into a private club. The sports complex where the national-class players were produced will not tolerate any attempt to open a liquor bar. Mumbai Congress president and Dharavi MLA Varsha Gaikwad has threatened to stop the privatization of the sports complex owned by Dharavi residents or else they will take to the streets.
In 2013, under the initiative of Eknath Gaikwad, the Congress set up the world-class Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi Public District Sports Complex in Dharavi, providing a platform for young players from poor and middle-class families to realize their dreams. The three-story building has all the sports facilities like indoor games, a gymnasium, a multipurpose hall, a 200-meter running track, a basketball, a volleyball court, a badminton court, a lawn tennis court, a kabaddi ground, a boxing ring, a swimming pool. The sports complex has produced national players, with around 2,000 to 2,500 players taking advantage of it. Varsha Gaikwad alleged that despite strong opposition from locals and opposition from the state sports department, the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government ignored it and put the sports complex in the throat of its developer friend in the name of maintenance in 2019.
After the sports complex fell into the hands of a private developer, the rates here were no longer affordable for the children of the common man. The annual fee for a swimming pool is Rs 28,000, Rs 1,500 per hour for tennis and basketball, and Rs 2,100 per hour for badminton. The BJP has committed the sin of destroying the dreams of children from poor and ordinary families to become sportspersons. This has not stopped by making the sports complex of the poor a private club. Now, with the help of the ruling party, liquor dens are being set up here. This kind of behavior will never be tolerated and we will fight unitedly against it," Gaikwad said.