Even as he grapples with Mumbai's endless struggles, from public health care to civic facilities, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner, Ajoy Mehta, remains focused to build a cultural infrastructure for the city. "And though you can't compare budgets allocated for the arts to the infrastructure — we spend nearly Rs 3,000 crore on roads — there's a commitment," he further assures, seated at his Fort office. "We hope to create a nucleus, and the artist community can build around it."
Mehta, a 1984 batch IAS officer, who has studied engineering, law, and holds a Masters in Business Administration, hopes to reflect his artistic vision in the new Development Plan (DP) too. For the first time in Mumbai's history, he shares, a whole chapter has been dedicated to the arts and culture in the DP that spells out the plans for the city's new museums. There is also the Textile Museum in Kala Chowki in the works. In fact, Mehta travelled to Russia along with the Maharashtra chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, last month, to visit the State Hermitage Museum at St Petersburg to sign an MoU on behalf of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.
"We don't want a museum exclusively dedicated to textiles. We hope to achieve something like the Hermitage. The way they run the museum is impressive," points out Mehta. "I have visited the Louvre and several museums in London, but Hermitage is the largest museum I have seen. Their collection is outstanding. We saw Picasso, Rembrandt, and almost every master there. So, we decided to get them on board to assist us on the museum architecture."
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So, as reported earlier, the BMC has identified certain traffic islands — below the Gokhale flyover, S V Road and V M Road junction, Cosmopolitan Road and Balasaheb Sawant Road junction, Sant Namdeo Maharaj chowk (JVPD circle) — for artists to display their work. "I want young artists to get a platform. They can paint and sculpt as they please, as long as it is noncontroversial," he smiles. Public art in the city hasn't always been a prototype adhering to aesthetic appeal. "But art doesn't necessarily have to be that. In my opinion, if doesn't evoke a debate, it is not art," he says.