Excerpt from Mumbai Solid Waste Network on 29th Sep 2009: Read Full Article

The purpose of this entry is to give a quick snapshot on the Deonar garbage dump an events leading to the awarding of the Deonar Project. The Deonar Project was finally awarded in Aug 2008 at an exorbitant and unreasonable public cost of Rs. 4500 crores and based on a technology, which is being questioned.

There was hardly any public discussion regarding the use of tax payers money. Below are the inconsistencies in the award of the project which was originally projected to be awarded at around one tenth of the current cost in 2005

This post aims to stir greater public dialogue and expects that people will understand the key aspects of the matter and based on that send emails and letters to their Councilors, Municipal Commissioner and the Press asking for the answers.

As reported in Business Standard by  PB Jayakumar on  September 27, 2009

Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF), which owns close to 800 acres in the Sion-Chembur region in the heart of Mumbai, is planning to re-develop its residential areas with high-rise towers to unlock the value of its real estate assets.

The public sector fertilizer major, whose residential colonies occupy about 300 acres, has appointed a consultant to design a blue-print to re-develop a part of the area with two-three residential towers.

“RCF will shift employees currently residing at the RCF colony to these towers and will offer the rest of the apartments to other public sector companies such as Indian Oil or Bharat Petroleum,” RCF Chairman and Managing Director US Jha told Business Standard.

He pointed out that most of the buildings in RCF’s housing colonies were old and in a bad condition.

“Restoration of these buildings will cost close to Rs 300 crore. We are planning to optimise the value of this land by building towers for our own use and for the use of other public sector undertakings,” Jha said. He further noted that a part of the proposed high-rise buildings could also be used to house IT firms and even be converted into an IT park.

The consultant will provide the blue-print soon. RCF is planning to approach the government for various clearances and funds to go ahead with the project. Jha said RCF had so far not considered the participation of private sector real estate developers in the project.

“We will not sell or rent our premises for real estate or related commercial ventures. We will invite bids after the clearances. They (the companies) can help us construct the towers,” he said.

It may be noted that RCF’s land in Mumbai has been a prime target for real estate players for many years. In the last few years, there have been several media reports that RCF may sell a part of its real estate assets as a part of the government plan for divestment of loss-making public sector units.

According to sources, RCF’s plants are spread across about 400 acres and its residential colonies cover about 300 acres. More than 100-150 acres could be utilised for various commercial development purposes, including captive expansion, RCF cannot utilise the property for non-related businesses as per the land acquisition norms laid down at the time of the commissioning of RCF, the sources added. As reported earlier, RCF is also working on a project to unlock the value of its real estate assets by venturing into related chemical businesses by setting up a chemical park and a chemical commodity exchange in its premises. The company also had close to 700 acres at its Taal facility, sources said.

RCF had also formed a joint venture with Rapid Building Systems of Australia for setting up a Rapidwall manufacturing facility at its Trombay unit at a cost of Rs 75 crore.

This is one situation late film star and Congress leader Sunil Dutt may not have imagined. His two children, Priya and Sanjay Dutt are campaigning for opposing parties in the Maharashtra assembly polls — and that too in the same constituency.
Congress MP Priya Dutt will campaign for party strongman and former minister Baba Siddiqui, a close confidant of the Dutt family for over three decades, while Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt would canvas for well-known advocate Rizwan Merchant.

The siblings have pitted themselves in the Bandra West constituency where Baba Siddiqui is taking on Merchant. Sanjay Dutt is Samajwadi Party general secretary. According to Samajwadi Party youth wing leader Farooq Ghosi, Sanjay Dutt and his wife Manyata accompanied Merchant when he filed his nomination papers and also signed as the proposers. Sanjay Dutt said the Bandra West area was his father Sunil Dutt’s stronghold and “I shall ensure that the Samajwadi Party candidate wins from here”.

Earlier, Sanjay Dutt and his wife also accompanied state Samajwadi Party president Abu Asim Azmi, a former Rajya Sabha member, when he filed his papers from the Mankhurd-Shivajinagar assembly constituency, in north-east Mumbai. A well-known Mumbai journalist Sarfaraz Aarzoo, editor of the Urdu daily Hindustan, meanwhile filed his nomination as a Samajwadi Party candidate from the Muslim-dominated Byculla assembly constituency in south Mumbai.

Read more: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/priya-sanjay-dutt-support-opposing-parties-in-same-constituency-lead_100252402.html#ixzz0SBbNFbQV

Deepak Nikhalje, brother of underworld don Chhota Rajan, and former don Arun Gawli are among the 21 persons who have filed their nomination for the state Assembly elections so far. Nikhalje, the state vice-president of Republican Party of India (Athawale), filed his nomination from Chembur on Tuesday while Gawli’s papers were filed by his daughter and corporator Geeta Gawli in Byculla.
As many as six independent candidates filed their papers along with two from the BJP in the Mumbai suburban district. Four-time MLA from Ghatkopar, Prakash Mehta, filed his nomination for Ghatkopar East while BMC corporator Ashish Shelar filed his from Vandra East. In Mumbai city, three-time BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha filed his nomination in Malabar Hill while Yashwant Yadav of the Shiv Sena also filed his papers for Byculla.

Gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli is set to contest the elections from Arthur Road Jail. While it remains to be seen whether the absence of ‘Daddy’ will have an impact on his vote-bank, his Akhil Bhartiya Sena (ABS) is determined to give its best shot.

Geeta Gawli is confident that her father’s work in Byculla in the past eight years will help them win. “We intend to focus on three prime issues — unemployment, education and health. Daddy has helped several ‘educated yet unemployed’ youth get jobs in companies, ensured free or subsidised treatment to the poor. He has also ensured the progress of the local schools. We intend to take his work a step further.”

Though the ABS has an alliance with the Shiv Sena in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (where Geeta and her aunt Vandana Gawli are corporators and members of civic committees), Geeta said there will be no alliance with the saffron party for the Assembly polls.

The party looks to begin its campaign by Thursday with house visits. “I, my aunt and mother will start campaigning in areas from where we won the BMC elections. We believe in house-to-house campaign,” said Geeta.

The party is also facing another challenge this year, of getting its voters acquainted with its new election symbol. “Our traditional supporters have always voted for the ‘jahaz’ — aeroplane. Now with the symbol itself having been removed from the list, we have sought fan, kite or ring as our symbol. Whatever be the final choice, we will have to get our voters acquainted with it.”

Deepak Nikhalje is SSC pass with assets worth Rs 3.60 crore, which include two plots in Chembur and land in Satara. He has eight cases pending against him. He has three vehicles – an Innova Scoda, Ford Fiesta and a tractor.

Arun Gawli, 57, is Standard XI pass. He has 11 pending cases against him, with two convictions that have been set aside by higher courts. He has declared moveable assets worth Rs 1.87 crore and immovable assets of Rs 1.90 crore.

Poonam Mahajan, daughter of slain Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan, on Wednesday filed her nomination for the forthcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.

Poonam would be contesting as BJP candidate from Ghatkopar constituency in suburban Mumbai.

“This is not a new constituency for me like I have said before. Since 1984 my father (Pramod Mahajan) has been contesting the elections from here. I was born in Chembur, for me this is an old area, but the challenge is new to me and it is a different role for me. I”ll try my level best so that the Shiv Sena and BJP coalition wins from here,” said Poonam.

Earlier on Sunday, Poonam’’s candidature had sparked opposition within the party as hundreds of BJP activists took out a protest in Mumbai.

Excerpt from CG+, reported by Vibha Singh on 26th Sep 2009: Read Full Article

After conducting a successful mock terror attack drill at K-star mall, police are planning more such drills.

The residents of Chembur will see more of the mock drills by police about their preparedness in case of terrorist attacks in the coming months, according to police sources. On their toes since the 26/11 terror attacks, the Chembur policemen wearing bullet-proof jackets and carrying arms, at K Star Mall tested their preparedness for the attacks and mob situations. Many residents thought that another 26/11 was in progress.

The drill involved 43 officers and around 283 constables who went ahead looking at various ways of handling terrorist attacks at public places.  The police officials took position at strategic points and also handled the panicky crowd and also evacuated passage to shoppers.

Says Manish Wadhwani, working at Pizza Hut, “We all got so scared that we did not know what was happening. Suddenly, so many policemen barged inside the mall with guns. We had no clue about it.” Clarifies Ritesh Kumar, assistant commissioner (E), “We had sent a notice to the mall’s security department and also informed the control rooms.

For the public it must have come as a shock but concerned people were informed on time.” Says DCP (Zone VI) Dilip Sawant, “We have been conducting drills like this at BPCL, BARC and other sensitive organisations. But this is the first time we have conducted the drill at a public place.

Excerpt from CG+, reported by Sujatha Subraman on 26th Sep 2009: Read Full Article

Beyond Mankhurd subway, along the Eastern Express Highway, there is a small colony of casual workers manufacturing construction materials like RCC columns, beams and such other material. This colony is located in an isolated area, almost cut off from all kinds of modern amenities.

The 300 and odd workers living with their families also lacked medical facilities. That was the reason for Rotary Club of Bombay (Chembur) West along with the Indian Medical Association (Chembur branch) and volunteers of NGO Nirman to come together an launch a medical check up camp for them.

The formal function on Sunday was attended by the district chairperson of medical projects, Dr Jawahar Mansukhani and the assistant governor of Rotary, Laxmiraj Shah. In the words of Dr Haresh Asnani, the club president, “The site is inaccessible and most of the workers are migrant labourers.

Excerpt from CG+, reported by Sudhakar Anchan on 26th Sep 2009: Read Full Article

Rotary International District 3140’s, that includes the Rotary Club of Deonar organised a ‘Rotary Green Earth Summit’09’, a national seminar on Global Warming and Water Management recently.

Rotary District 3140’s governor, T N Subramanian said, “Global warming is the biggest menace facing our world which has the capacity to destroy human civilization in the coming decades and the time to act is now. And the way rain Gods have played hide-and-seek this year has brought home the critical importance of water management.”

Rajendra Singh, better known as Jal Purush and winner of Magsaysay Award, who founded Tarun Bharat Sangh in 1984 for Rural Upliftment of desolated villagers in Rajasthan gave a spirited speech about the need of Water Conservation and preserving our natural water resources.

He says, “Natural disasters like Global warming, drought and flooding are all man made problems. The solution to these problems lies in our indigenous knowledge system.” He urged Rotarians to work with UPA’s NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), a central government initiative to alleviate rural poverty.

As reported in TOI by  Ashley D’Mello, on  20 September 2009

Work on the Rs 2,460-crore monorail project is steaming ahead. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) officials said that work along most of the route- Jacobs Circle-Wadala-Chembur-will now begin as the traffic police have given the go ahead.

“Permissions are needed from the traffic cops as work on the ground entails blocking off parts of the road and this in turn causes jams. So far, work had been in progress only along a 5-km route as the permissions had not been obtained for the rest of the track. Now, work will begin on 19 km of the track,” said an MMRDA official.

Head of the transport planning division of the MMRDA, P R K Murthy, said the project is developing well and should be complete by its December 2010 deadline.

“Unlike the Metro rail project, the monorail project is much smaller and its implementation will not mean large scale dislocation of people and structures,’ said joint project director of MMRDA, Dilip Kawathkar.” The monorail project aims to benefit the section of the populace that is not being served effectively by existing modes of transport, said Kawathkar. The monorail route will supplement the suburban rail and the new Metro rail network.