Excerpt from TOI, reported by Anil Singh, Aug 29, 2010: Read Full Article

A 14-year-old boy lost his left hand in a lift accident at Mankhurd at 8 am on Sunday. The boy, Jalaluddin Ansari, had inserted his hand into the grille door of the elevator in an attempt to open it.

Ansari tried to open the door of the lift that was stuck on the first floor. He wanted to press the `door open’ button using a badminton racquet but ended up pressing the button for the fifth floor. The lift moved up, dragging his hand that was trapped in the grille door. Ansari’s hand was severed from the elbow.

A 15-year-old girl has been sent to the Mankhurd remand home for allegedly abandoning a month-old boy in Tilak Nagar last month. The police are now looking for the baby’s biological father, who has been charged with raping a minor and abandoning the child. According to the law, if any person has sexual relations with a minor, even with her consent, it amounts to rape.

“Last month, the control room got a call about an abandoned baby,” said a police official, requesting anonymity.Senior police inspector R.M. Gavit said: “We tracked down the mother, who is a minor, and booked her under the relevant section of the IPC.”

But parents of the girl, who studies in Class 10, denied that it was her baby. “However, medical reports have proved that the girl had delivered a baby recently,” Gavit added.

“The girl also admitted to having abandoned the infant and also disclosed the father’s name,” said an official. The police are taking legal advice to decide if a fresh complaint has to be registered or they could add rape to the existing section. The baby is presently at a government orphanage.

Excerpt from DNA on Aug 9, 2010 By Sandeep Ashar: Read Full Article

To tackle the water supply crisis in the city, the civic administration has been flirting dangerously with groundwater reserves by digging borewells in areas where the water table is below normal, or where the water is polluted and saline, in violation of state norms.

A report of new borewells dug between January and June compiled by BMC’s hydraulic department shows that borewells have been dug in Mankhurd and Govandi in the eastern suburbs, and vulnerable parts of Bandra (E), and Andheri (W) in the west.
SK Gupta, a consultant geologist, who surveyed the groundwater table in these parts for the BMC, had asked the civic body to resist groundwater extraction in these areas. The civic administration has, however, given in to pressure exerted by elected representatives and citizens suffering water scarcity.

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) said that it will put up 4,500 apartments for next year’s draw. A major chunk of these houses will be developed for the economically weaker sections earning up to Rs 12,000 a month. Only 200 houses are going to be for the Higher Income Group that earns more than Rs 25,000 a month. The houses will be built in Sion, Borivli, Mankhurd, Malvani, Kandivli, Goregaon and Ghatkopar. Mr Amarjeet Singh Manhas, President, MHADA (Mumbai Board) called the lottery an annual feature aiming to provide affordable houses to citizens. So, those who missed out on their dream home this time will have wait for the next years  draw.
19 May 2010 Hindustan Times

As reported in Indian Express , on May 18 2010

Four days after 1,250 hutments were razed by the suburban collector’s office and the civic body at Anna Bhau Sathe Nagar in Mankhurd, a few social activists, who oppose the drive, reconstructed the house of a 40-year-old widow, Fatima Khan. Khan’s house was also demolished on Thursday.

Along with residents of the razed hutments and those of nearby slums, the activists from National Alliance of People’s Movement entered the fourth day of their protests on Monday. The demolition drive was launched jointly by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the collector’s office.

Though the demolitions have been stalled for the last three days, the dishoused people have been living on the streets. More than 2,900 families and about 10,000 people live in these slum hutments that were slated for demolition.

However, due to the protests of activist groups, the authorities could carry out the drive only on Thursday. “This land belongs to the government. These people had encroached upon the place,” said Dhananjay Sawarkar, additional suburban collector. As many as 38 women were arrested as they protested against the demolition drive on Thursday.

A day after losing his two-room home in the demolition drive at the Annubhau Sathe Nagar slums in Mankhurd, Shivaji Utekar (25) died when he stepped on a live wire.

All those who were rendered homeless after the city collectorate’s drive — that razed 3,000 shanties — were living amidst the scattered rubble that their homes had been reduced to.

Utekar, a daily wage labourer, had been staying in the area for the last 10 years and was living in the broken house with his wife and children after the demolition, said the Mankhurd police.

On Friday night, Utekar was sitting in the house when he went to the area where his bedroom used to be.

“He accidentally stepped on an exposed wire and got electrocuted. When his family saw Utekar unconscious, they raised an alarm. Locals helped rush him to the nearby hospital,” said Pascal D’souza, senior police inspector. “He died on his way to the hospital. We have registered a case of accidental death.”

Around 700 residents along with social activist Medha Patkar protested outside the Mankhurd police station demanding a case be registered against Reliance Energy.

Over 1,250 hutments were razed in a massive demolition drive carried out by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the Collector’s office on Thursday in the Anna Bhau Sathe Nagar in Mankhurd.

There are more than 2,900 families and a population of about 10,000 people in these slum hutments. Over the next few days, the rest of the hutments are also slated for demolition, said officials. “This land belongs to the government and these people had encroached the area,” said Dhananjay Sawarkar, Additional Suburban Collector.

Five JCB bulldozers were used for the demolition drive which was supervised by 75 personnel. Thirty-eight women were arrested as they protested against the demolition, said Ateeq Ahmed a local resident. “The women were protesting and hampering government work therefore they had to be arrested,” said Sawarkar.

“The land was cleared in 2005 but later the slumdwellers had started living here,” he added.

“In March this year, the administration sent an evacuation letter to the slumdwellers and after they had protested, we asked for their residence proofs,” Sawarkar said.

None of them was found eligible after we checked their documents as none of them have been here before 1995, we gave demolition orders, he added.

The notice of demolition was served on Wednesday morning and the slumdwellers were given 24 hours to vacate, said the officials. However, according to locals, the notice was served late on Wednesday afternoon and they did not get even 24 hours to vacate.

Last month, slumdwellers had submitted a proposal to the Centre and state for implementation of Rajiv Awaas Yojana in their slum, said Simpreet Singh of Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan. If these illegalities were there, then they should have been given the notice at that time, he added.

According to the administration, the locals set some huts on fire to stop the demolition, but the locals alleged that it was the civic body which set the fire as they wanted to expedite demolition process.

The slums house largely workers from unorganized sector and had a lot of training centres for tailoring, embroidery and computer classes.

Excerpt from Mumbai Mirror, reported by By Alka Shukla on May 06, 2010 Read Full Article

Metro’s second phase from Charkop to Mankhurd via Bandra covering 32 km, is likely to get delayed as it struggles with clearances at several levels. The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of Ministry of Environment and Forests has refused to give it a clearance in its present form.

It has suggested ‘deferring’ the project, redirecting it to Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) for a clear recommendation from them first.

The problem

Car depots on both ends of the elevated corridor fall in mangrove areas. While the maintenance depot proposed at Charkop is on 19.69 hectares, the one in Mankhurd is around 24 hectares.

Because some parts of the proposed project fall in Coastal Regulatory Zone I, a no -development zone, MMRDA had referred the project to MCZMA earlier for clearance from where the project was sent to the EAC.

But the EAC found the MCZMA’s recommendations unclear and remarked that MCZMA had in fact identified the ‘proposed activities’ of the metro project as falling in CRZ I. Construction in this zone is not permissible under CRZ notification of 1991.

Excerpt from CG+, reported by Somendra Sharma on March 22, 2010: Read Full Article
Mumbai isn’t Sherwood Forest by any description, and this man did hot have the band of ‘merry men’ in Lincon Green to assist him in acts of crooked heroism, but Mani Kandan likes to believe himself as the modern day Robin Hood.

Kandan, 36, arrested by the Mumbai police after dodging the law for over two years, told the police that he robbed the rich to feed the poor and he wanted to purchase ambulances for the needy. The cops, who are taking the claim with loads of salt, are sure he had beggars and other poor people as informants.

Kandan was wanted in over 15 cases of robbery and house break-in, mostly in housing societies and electronic and mobile phone shops in Mankhurd,Shivaji Nagar and Deonar areas. He was caught by the Chembur unit of Mumbai police crime branch from Mankhurd on Friday.

“Kandan has told the police that he considers himself to be Robin Hood, and he steals from the rich and distributes the loot among the needy and poor,” said senior police inspector Shripad Kale.

Excerpt from DNA, reported by Dayanand Kamath on March 7, 2010: Read Full Article

The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of Mumbai conducted raids at five places in the last four days and recovered 30gms of cocaine, 79kgs charas and 900kgs ganja, collectively valued at Rs91.38 lakh. Nineteen drug peddlers, including three Nigerians, have been arrested. The ANC also seized a tempo, and two cars.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, police commissioner D Sivanandan said, “With the arrest of 19 persons, the ANC have busted three outstation gangs who brought narcotic drugs into Mumbai and sold them.”

The narcotic drugs were sent to Mumbai from Orissa and Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). Sivanandan added that they will soon co-ordinate with the J&K and Orissa police to nab the culprits who were involved in sending large consignments to Mumbai. Acting on the information, the ANC officers of the Bandra unit laid a trap at Vakola bridge, Santacruz (E) on March 4 and nabbed a Nigerian national, Jems Fanck, 30, and seized 24gms of cocaine valued at Rs96,000 concealed in his trousers. Fanck resided at Mira Road.
……..
In the third seize, the ANC officials received information that Dhannu alias Raju from Orissa would send narcotic drugs to Mumbai. Accordingly, ANC officials laid a trap at Mankhurd and intercepted a tempo and seized 900kgs ganja valued at Rs27 lakh concealed in the gunny bags. Five people from Andhra Pradesh were arrested. Amongst the arrested, one was held by the AP police two years ago for possession of ganja and convicted for six months. Another was arrested by the Nagpur police for possession of 220kgs ganja two years ago and was currently on bail, said DCP (ANC) Sunil Paraskar.