Former corporator questions ₹2 cr concession to RWITC

Mumbai

A day after the state cabinet declared that 120 acres of Mahalaxmi Racecourse will be turned into a theme park and renewed the lease of 91 acres to the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) for 30 years, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator Makrand Narwekar pointed out that the lease rent, mentioned in the new government resolution (GR), was much lower than what was charged earlier by the state government.

Narwekar shot off a letter to chief minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday where he underscored that according to the new mandate, the rent was reduced by ₹2 crore annually.

“The cabinet has decided to reduce RWITC’s rent stating that it will be levied only on the clubhouse, stables and other constructions. Barring the days of races, as the open space will be available for public use, it was has been decided to lease the space at a concessional rate. As a result of this, the RWITC’s annual lease rent has been reduced from ₹3crore to ₹1 crore. This is a loss to the public exchequer,” said Narwekar.

He said such concessions to RWITC were not made earlier, and that the present government has bifurcated the rented property into built-up and non-built-up areas, allocating separate rents to each. “There is no policy to split up the land and charge separate rents. Why has the concessional rate not been mentioned in the GR and such an exception been made? After Turf Club, is the state government going to give similar concessions to other clubs, or has a special case been made for this club in exchange of benefits given to the government?”

In this backdrop, Narwekar has demanded the inclusion of Amateur Riders’ Club (ARC) in the RWITC’s new lease agreement of the racecourse land. “This inclusion will ensure its continued existence. The absence of ARC at the new racecourse would be detrimental to the city,” he said. RWITC has sub-leased a part of the land to ARC. Since its foundation in 1942, the ARC has trained many generations of Mumbaikars in equestrian and polo.

He said, the club had produced Olympic and Asian games champions as also national-level sportspersons. For example, Hriday Chheda, who was part of the team that won India gold for the first time in dressage at the Asian Games in 2023, was trained at ARC. Shlok Jhunjhunwala, who won the individual gold in the first-ever freestyle dressage held in India the same year is from the club. “This makes it the only civilian club in India which has the infrastructure for dressage, show jumping, mounted sport and polo. I trust you will make a favourable decision on this matter, ensuring that Mumbai and Maharashtra do not lose such a valuable institution,” added Narwekar in his letter.