As reported in Line Mint (WSJ) 30th May 2009

A consortium led by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure Ltd on Friday emerged the sole bidder in a financial tender for the Rs7,660 crore second line of the Mumbai Metro rail network.
The Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-Adag) firm, in partnership with Canada’s SNC-Lavalin Group and Reliance Infocomm Ltd, submitted a bid amount of Rs2,298 crore, which is the capital grant it requires from the Central and state governments for the mass rapid transit project.

In progress: A Metro construction site in Mumbai. Vijayanand Gupta / Hindustan Times
The proposed 32km rail corridor is the longest of the three routes in the first phase of the Mumbai Metro network, and will connect Charkop on the west to Mankhurd on the harbour line in the east, via Bandra.
“This (Reliance Infra’s) is the only bid we have received and we will send it for approval to the executive committee of the MMRDA,” said Dilip Kawathkar, spokesman for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the nodal agency handling the project. Once approved, the contract will be handed over to the bidder.
“Reliance’s bid of Rs2,298 crore is much less than the 40% grant that it is entitled to, which is a qualifying criterion,” said a senior Reliance Infra official on condition of anonymity.
The second Metro line, to be built in a public-private partnership model, is entitled to a maximum grant of Rs3,064 crore, or 40% of the project cost, from the Union and state governments. Of this, the Union government has approved Rs1,532 crore.
Six other groups that had submitted technical bids earlier—Reliance Industries Ltd, GVK Group-Bombardier Inc., Tata Power Co. Ltd-Mitsubishi Corp., GE India-Larsen and Toubro Ltd, IL&FS-Punj Llyod Ltd and Essar- Alstom—dropped out in the financial bid round. Reliance Infra is also constructing the first 11km long, Rs2,356 crore Andheri-Versova-Ghatkopar rail corridor connecting the city’s western and eastern suburbs

As reported in Hindu News on May 30 2009

Bombay High Court has summoned a Ward Officer of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), seeking explanation as to why an unauthorised structure on a private land was not pulled down.

The officer concerned will have to remain present in the court on June 1.

One Ravilal Rudka Rajput had filed a petition in the High Court, alleging that a relative of a local Shiv Sena leader had encroached upon his land in suburban Govandi.

C B Thavai started constructing on Rajput’s land on May 20, petition alleged.

On May 26, Rajput came to Vacation Bench of High Court, and judges asked officer concerned to remain present.

The officer was not present yesterday. MCGM counsel said the land in question actually belonged to the government.

However, petitioner’s lawyer Rakesh Dave pointed out that in 1997 the corporation had pulled down an illegal structure on the same land.

A Division Bench of Justices J H Bhatia and Mrudula Bhatkar was not satisfied with the corporation’s reply.

“We are not satisfied with the reply. Keep the officer concerned present, or we will summon Municipal Commissioner, the court said, seeking a fresh reply on June 1.

As reported in HT 28th May 2009 :

A 21-year-old unemployed man from Chembur  drowned at Aksa beach, Malad on Wednesday. This is the third drowning at Aksa beach this month.

His friend who tried to save him got into difficulties himself, and was rescued by the lifeguards at the beach.

The deceased, Satish Prakash Servade (21), and the survivor Vikas Telang (18), a student of Ambedkar College, had gone for a picnic to the beach with four other friends from their housing colony in Chembur.

According to Jaywant Hergude, senior police inspector and the lifeguards at the beach, the group of six men ventured into the sea at 1.30 pm. Five of them stayed in a natural water estuary but Servade went into the deep waters and was swept off by a wave from the rising tide.

Two other friends who could swim, as well as Telang went into the deep water to save him but failed.

Telang could not swim and was brought out by a lifeguard, Rajnikant Masgaonkar.
Masgaonkar said that despite warnings, the men went for a swim.

“Visitors say they have not visited the beach unless they go into the sea. They think that we have a vested interest in cautioning them,” he added.

“The people are so adamant that even after seeing the bodies being recovered by us, the visitors were still venturing into the sea. The danger signs and repeated warnings do not have any effect on the picnickers,” said Masgaonkar.

‘I wanted to save him’

I do not know how to swim but could not see my friend drowning in front of my eyes, I was not worried about my life. I wanted to save Satish.

After our board exams, my colony friends and I had planned for an outing at the Aksa beach. We set out on Wednesday morning and we had planned to leave for lunch after a swim.

All of us were swimming in shallow waters when Satish who was the eldest among us said that he wanted to go a little further into the deep waters. We tried to stop him but he had already reached far into the sea. The lifeguards were nowhere to be seen but the beach was crowded and several families were enjoying themselves by the sea.

After a few minutes, we saw a huge wave engulf Satish. He did not cry out for help but three of us dived into the sea to save him. When the tide started rising my two friends swam to safety leaving Satish and me struggling.

I was the only one who did not know swimming and got stuck and started shouting for help. I do not what happened next but when I opened my eyes I was at the shore surrounded by people and lifeguards.

I was taken to Bhagwati Hospital and discharged after treatment.

As reported in DNA on wednesday, May 27, 2009 : 

 Twice they met with fate worse than death, and both times they were rescued. Rashida and Sakina, both 18, were sold first time as minors to a brothel in Vashi by the former’s father in 2006. They were rescued and sent to an observation home.

After they turned 18, they were released from the home, only to be pushed back into flesh trade. Again, they were saved. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), following its raid at a Vashi hotel on Tuesday night, arrested Mohammad Pervez Ansari, 45, along with seven others, including two women, for allegedly running a sex racket involving minors in the city and Navi Mumbai.

“Preliminary investigations have revealed that Ansari and three other arrested accused — Vitthal Patil, 29, Rajendra Saw, 26 and Najunda Gowda, 26 — worked as pimps,” said Rishi Raj Singh, joint director, CBI (western zone). By grilling the trio, the sleuths came to know about Jasbeer Kaur, 55, who had allegedly given her house to forcibly confine the girls. Pramod Saw, an accomplice, and Bibhash and Sampa Roy, a couple who had brought three girls from Kolkata to Mumbai last week, too were arrested. They were produced in court in Wednesday, and were remanded in police custody till June 5. However, the kingpin of the racket was at large.

The minors, said sources, were brought in either from Bangladesh or Assam and West Bengal. In Tuesday night’s raid, a CBI team rescued 19 girls from Hotel Kuber in Vashi. Listening to their horrifying tales of sexual and physical abuse, the sleuths came to know about 13 other girls, who were forcibly confined in a house in Sindhi Colony, Chembur. The apartment was raided and the girls were rescued. All of them were sent to rehabilitation homes in Deonar and Chembur, said CBI officials. Cash worth Rs4.80lakh was recovered from the two spots raided.

Investigations revealed that the victims were lured to the city with the promise of tit-bit roles in Bollywood films or television serials. “But once they reached Mumbai, they were forced into flesh trade,” said Singh. The pimps allegedly would cough up Rs40,000 for every “virgin” girl and Rs10,000 for each of the minors. The rescued girls told CBI officials that they were be paid Rs500-1,000 per night.

“The girls were first taken to Hotel Kuber, where the customers chose them. After spending the night, they were returned to the pimps,” said Amitabh Thakur, superintendent of police, special crimes. “The girls were then locked up in safe houses which were constantly guarded.”

Corporators on Monday served a vital blow to Mumbai’s chances to close the 127-hectare dumping ground at Deonar and converting it into a green belt.

Setting aside fears that the dumping site__city’s oldest and biggest__has just six more years of lifespan, the BMC standing committee deferred the ambitious project of partial closure of the yard and converting the remaining land into a sanitary landfill site, which was supposed to be conducted through a public-private partnership. The project cost has been estimated at Rs 5,500 crore over 25 years.

Members of the standing committee, which mostly comprises corporators, have now demanded fresh tenders on the grounds that the existing format, which involves payment of an annual tipping fee of Rs 44 crore for disposing of and processing 2,000 metric tonnes of garbage every day, is not sustainable.

This, officials said, not only had put a spanner in BMC’s plan to set up an efficient solid waste management system, but would also delay the project by at least a year. “On one hand, we are fighting a battle against activists vehemenlty opposing the Kanjurmarg waste site and on the other, we have greedy corporators, who for their vested interest, have stalled a crucial project. Where will the city’s waste go from here with the corporation already struggling to find alternative sites?” asked a senior BMC official.

On Monday, the administration submitted a revised plan with a new cost, which is Rs 900 crore less. However, the Shiv Sena and the BJP, the ruling parties in the civic body, were not convinced by the new proposal. Questions were raised on why the corporation should pay the tipping fee of Rs 625 per metric tone garbage, now reduced to Rs 550 in the new proposal.

Challenging the allegations, the BMC administration argued that the fee was much lower than what is being charged in other major cities of the world. “Despite this, the project does not look sustainable to corporators,” said a senior civic official. The officials said if the tipping fee for Kanjurmarg dumping ground turned out to be less than that for the Deonar site, the two amounts should be made the same.

But not everyone agrees. “The plan is an eyewash. As the dump is close to the Vashi creek, it is governed by the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules and any construction there will violate coastal rules,” said a member of standing committee.

DUMPYARD STATS

• In use since: 1927
• To be closed: 2033
• Total area: 127 hectare
• Land used for dumping: 120 hectare
• Household waste generated daily in the city: 6,500 metric tonnes
• Construction and debris generated daily in the city: 10,000 metric tonnes
• Household waste dumped daily at Deonar: 5,000 metric tonnes
• Land to be closed: 65 hectare
• Plot to be converted into a processing unit and a sanitary landfill site: 55 hectares
• Cost: Rs 4,560 cr for 25 years
• Tipping fee: Rs 550 per metric tonne

As reported in TOI 26 May 2009, by  Sharad Vyas

The Mumbai crime branch, in a joint operation with the Ahmednagar police, on Saturday arrested a gang of four who had assaulted and robbed a Mumbai-based businessman of Rs 30 lakh. The robbery had taken place on Ahmednagar highway last Tuesday.

Interestingly, the tip-off was provided by the businessman’s driver Ganesh Somnath Singh (25) who is a member of the gang. The other gang members have been identified as Allauddin Azam Khan (35), Dilipkumar Chourasia (22) and Nandu Hiralal Chourasia.

The police have recovered Rs 22 lakh from the accused and are now looking for three more associates who are believed to be having the rest of the cash, said crime branch chief Rakesh Maria.

On May 19, the victim, Navin Khatau Bhanushali, a wholesale grocery supplier, had gone to Ahmednagar along with Singh to collect his monthly payments from his clients. By 9 pm, Bhanushali had collected around Rs 37 lakh. He kept Rs 30 lakh in bag in the car’s boot and Rs 7 lakh in his briefcase below his legs. “As his car reached Chas Shivarat junction on Ahmednagar highway, an Indica overtook his car. Around six men pulled him out and beat him and Singh up with bamboo sticks and fled with the bag containing Rs 30 lakh,” said investigating officer Vinayak Vast.

The police arrested Allauddin, Dilip and Nandu from Govandi. “All the accused are residents of Govandi slums. Allauddin, who runs a garage in Govandi, is wanted by Sewri police and the crime branch in previous cases. He also has cases of theft registered at Sakinaka and Dongri police stations. The arrested accused have been handed over to the Ahmednagar police and further investigations are on.

As reported in TOI on 25 May 2009, by S Ahmed Ali … Read Full Story

The BMC spent Rs 8 crore last year on deploying pumps in flood-prone areas during the monsoon. However, most of this money went down the drain as the pumps were used for far less time than the hours they were contracted for.

While the pumps were contracted for 3,456 hours each, shockingly 191 of the 212 pumps deployed last year were used for only 10% of the hours or less. The remaining 21 pumps were used for just 10% to 52% of the hours.

The pump used the most was deployed at the railway subway near Maharashtra Nagar, Mankhurd. It was used for 1,775 of the 3,456 hours, which amounted to a mere 51.3% of usage.

The pumps used the least were deployed at the C-Ward office at Marine Lines and Juhu Tara Road. They were used for just five hours each, which amounted to 0.14% usage. A few other pumps used for less than 1% of the hours were located at Majas Depot in Andheri-East, Kalpana Motor Garage in Kurla and the K-East ward office in Andheri. They were used for 10 (0.29%), 15 (0.43%) and 20 (0.58%) hours respectively.

As reported in TOI on 25 May 2009, by Clara Lewis … read full story

As told by “Arobson” in his  Blog … Read Full Story 

I thought I had seen the worst of Mumbai until today. At 10.30, Pradeep drove me to the largest dumping ground in Mumbai where we were to meet the yellow bus. I could not believe what I saw. This is the area where lots of the rubbish, that is collected in Mumbai, is dumped and people live amongst it. The smell can only be described as intoxicating and the conditions that these people live in are awful. It is so unhygenic for the children, who smell as bad as the air, and I have never seen so many flies in one place before….

The Shivaji Nagar slums in Govandi that house about 26,000 families could be the first in Mumbai to become safe from electrocution or fire incidents due to short-circuits. A joint venture between Reliance and World Bank aims to streamline internal electric wiring inside the hutments in unorganised localities and provide them electric meters. The pilot project is likely to take a year’s time.

Work on the project will start only after the approaching monsoon. After this pilot project, Reliance may take up such programmes in all big slums across suburban Mumbai where it supplies power to more than 29 lakh consumers.

“We serve power to more than 10 lakh consumers in unorganised areas and they consume less than 100 units a month. The project will help meter their supply and achieve safety standards,” said Lalit Jalan, CEO of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.

As reported in TOI on 25 May 2009 by Chittaranjan Tembhekar … Read full Article

Reliance Energy, a power distribution arm of Reliance Infrastructure, joined hands with the World Bank to develop the world class power infrastructure in the unorganized developments in its licensed distribution area in the suburban Mumbai.

As a part of this joint initiative, the company would undertake its first project in the unorganized developments of Shivajinagar area of Govandi in Eastern Mumbai suburb.

The World Bank as an administrator to the scheme christened as Global Partnership on Output – Based Aid (GPOBA), has entrusted Reliance Energy, being a licensed power distributor in the area, to execute the project in Shivajinagar, Govandi.

As a part of execution of the programme, the company will start developing power distribution infrastructure in a planned and systematic ways. This would include several initiatives like laying down new distribution network; installing electricity meters to ensure authorized and metered power supply, etc. The work is expected to start after the monsoon.

The Company, though getting aid from the World Bank under the programme, would be substantially investing in creating the world class infrastructure for the project. The initiative, when completed, is expected to be beneficial to around 26000 households in the concerned areas.

As reported in Economic Times on 21st may 2009