As reported in TOI by V Narayan, on  Feb 22, 2010

The Tilak Nagar police on Saturday arrested a Chhota Rajan gang member, Paulson Joseph (46), and gangster Sadhu Shetty’s wife Prema (45), for ‘allegedly’ forcing 164 families to give their consent to a builder for redeveloping the Marathwada Cooperative Housing Society at Panchsheel Nagar in Tilak Nagar.

The police are collecting evidence before taking action against the builder Jatin Mehta on whose behalf the duo committed the crime.

According to the police, the accused threatened to kill the secretary and members of the society for not agreeing to the redevelopment terms and conditions that were offered to them. The victims were reportedly made to talk with Rajan on more than four occasions when the SRA authorities were informed about the issue a few months ago.

Investigators said that the duo, acting on the builder’s request, threatened the victims at gun-point and made them sign and agree to the deal that they made. “Both Paulson and Shetty are close to Jatin Mehta who was eyeing the locality to redevelop it. When the people did not agreed to Mehta’s terms and conditions, he took the duo’s help,” deputy commissioner of police (Zone VI) Dilip Sawant.

When secretary of the society, Niyamat Sayyed (36), along with the society members raised voices and objected to the deal, they were threatened and made to talk with Rajan. Sayyed, in his complaint, said, “The problem started when we disagreed with the terms and conditions and brought them to the notice of SRA officials. For the last four months, we were repeatedly called to Shetty’s seventh-floor flat at Neelkanth tower near Amar Mahal in Chembur to discuss the matter with the builder. During the meet, they used to threaten us at gun-point to solve the matter. Paulson and Shetty had made me talk with Rajan on all the four occasions.” Rajan spoke in Marathi and asked me “to do what his associates had asked him to do.”

Tilak Nagar police inspector Vilas Shinde said that the action was taken on Sayyed’s complaint. “During interrogation, Shetty revealed that she owns three rooms in the society. The builder, reportedly, offered a deal to Paulson and Shetty in the project if they help him in getting signatures of the people,” added Shinde.

Paulson came to the cops’ notice after he sponsored a party at the Chembur Gymkhana, which was attended by several top members of the Chhota Rajan gang, including D K Rao, and it resulted in the suspension of five police officers who attended the party. “In 2007, Paulson was booked for threatening and extortion after the Mumbai Crime Branch (Chembur Unit VI) received a complaint from a person. It is also learnt that Paulson is reportedly close to Rajan and handles his finances.”

The duo has been booked under several sections of the IPC for criminal intimidation, extortion and making threat calls.

Excerpt from CG+, reported by Sudhakar Anchan on February 13, 2010 : Read Full Article

The traffic from Chembur station south side area to Amar Mahal, Pestomsagar, Tilaknagar, Garodia Nagar burdens the Amar Mahal junction significantly. When the auto rickshaws went off the road for half a day recently, there was no traffic congestion, leading to the fact that if the auto rickshaw traffic is handled effectively, there would be relief.

“A similar situation exists for south bound auto traffic towards Chembur Railway station and nearby areas,” says Mohan Bagwe, a local resident. “There is a service road from Shell Colony towards Shramajeevi Nagar Nulla on the western side of the Highway.

If this service road can be linked near the BEST Postal Colony stop on the northbound traffic (western side), autos from the station area can come to Shell Colony, take the Service Road and then the Highway totally bypassing the traffic junction. A free left turn would be a good effective discharge,” informs Bagwe.

As reported in MumbaiMirror By Anand Holla Posted On Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Traumatised by her friends who spiked her cola, molested her, shot her in the nude and sent the MMS clips across the city, a Chembur girl finally found the courage to complain about them.

The 17-year-old lodged a complaint with the Tilak Nagar police on Friday. The police are yet to trace the accused, who are on the run.

In her complaint, the girl said that Dhanraj and Inayat Khan befriended her during the standard X tutorials. On November 23, when the girl – who is now in Std XII – left home at 2 pm to attend classes, Inayat called her and asked her to meet him. He also told her to collect important study notes which were at Dhanraj’s house. When she refused, as she was getting late for her classes, he convinced her to accompany him to Dhanraj’s house where another youngster was present.

The girl told the police, “Dhanraj offered me a bottle of Coca Cola to drink. As I began sipping it, I started feeling dizzy. Inayat made me sit on the floor, and 15 minutes later, I started feeling better. I then began walking towards the door.

“Suddenly I realised that Inayat, Dhanraj and the other guy were staring at me. Somehow, I took the lift, went down and learnt that it was 3.20 pm. As I walked to the Tilak Nagar Railway Station, I realised that Inayat, Dhanraj and the guy had spiked my cola. I had lost consciousness and they had molested me.”

Depressed, the girl didn’t tell anybody about the incident. On November 30, Inayat and Dhanraj met her and showed her an obscene video on Inayat’s mobile phone. When she asked why they were showing her dirty videos, the duo asked her to watch the clip closely.

As she realised that the girl in the clip was her, she began crying. “Inayat then threatened me saying if I wanted him to delete the video, I should pay up Rs 25,000 within eight days or else he would circulate it to everybody she knew in the locality.”

The harrowed girl did not step out of her house for two days. Mustering up courage, she finally confided in her parents, and then registered a complaint with the Tilak Nagar police. The girl’s lawyer Jayesh Vithlani said, “They have sent the MMS to several people. She cannot bear the trauma. She had trusted them as her friends.”

Investigating officer P B Ganame of Tilak Nagar police said, “We are on the lookout for both Dhanraj and Inayat, who are on the run. We will find them soon and unravel how many others are involved in this offence.”

Recently, after learning of the girl’s case, Chhota Rajan aide Farid Tanasha, who is a resident of Tilak Nagar, was arrested for having his men strip Inayat and Dhanraj in the vicinity and then thrashing them.

As reported in DNA by Shwetaa Rahul on Saturday, July 4 2009

Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee hopes to make 38 railway stations in Maharashtra out of 375 in the country ‘Adarsh’ (model) stations. Her definition of an Adarsh station? Developing stations with basic facilities such as drinking water, adequate toilets, catering services, waiting rooms and dormitories especially for lady passengers, better signage and other basic facilities which are universally available.

The stations in Mumbai are Andheri, Bandra, Belapur, Charni Road, Chembur, Churchgate, Currey Road, Dadar, Dahanu Road, Dockyard Road, Dombivili, Ghatkopar, Karjat, Kasara, Khopoli, King’s Circle, Kurla, Malad, Marine Lines, Matunga, Mira Road, Mulund, Mumbai Central (local), Nahur, Naigaon, Sanpada, Santa Cruz, Sewri, Tilak Nagar, Turbhe, Ulhasnagar, Vashi and Virar.

But there is confusion. “The budget seems to be unclear as the basic facilities mentioned in the speech are already in place at these stations. Also, it is not possible to provide dormitories at these stations even though a large number of people may use it daily,” said a senior railway official, adding, “Only after we receive a detailed explanation about the project will we be able to work on the proposed plan.”

Banerjee also intends to go ahead with developing Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Pune and Nagpur stations in Maharashtra as world class stations.

With Elections just round the corner… and “Vote For a Change” being the primary Punchline of Elections 2009 … many citizens are actually inching forward and doing their bit for the change that we all wanting to have so very desperately. Once such couple are doing their best to create awareness about the importance of voting are Anita and Omkar Shetty from Tilaknagar.

Anita who is the principal of Aryan Junior college at Sion (E) , with her husband Omkar , staff and students of her college, armed with a dummy voting machine and some banners and posters, a team of 100 plus students and teachers gathered at the railway stations of Sion and GTB Nagar to spread the message of voting.

• REMEMBER TO DO YOUR BIT FOR THE CHANGE!!!! GET OUT AND VOTE ON 30th APRIL!
• Read article in CG+ by Sujatha Subraman

 The 13 buildings of MHADA at New Tilak Nagar fall right in the middle of the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) that is being constructed. Of 260 tenants in these buildings , around 100 have signed the MoU, the rest demand more time to vacate buildings

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority(MMRDA)has come under criticism from the World Bank over the pace of the construction of SCLR….delay being mainly due to the rehabilitation procedures.

According to MMRDA, of the 260 tenants, around 100 tenants have signed the memorandum of understanding and agreed to vacate the premises. But the remaining tenants are demanding more time.
 

• About Santacruz Chembur Link Road
• Read article…” Rehab process may further delay Santacruz-Chembur Link Road ” posted: Tuesday , Apr 28, 2009 by Swapnil Rawal

Inflation of water charges of a society in Tilak Nagar led to the brutal assault of 20-year-old Neel Shah on Friday night. Shah was beaten up black and blue allegedly by Sandeep Dattatray Salvi (38) and Sameer Dattatray Salvi (35). A police complaint was filed by Shah and both the accused are absconding, according to the police.

According to Shah he was threatened when he started enquiring into a water bill of Rs 15,000 which came to him out of the blue. His family comprising of his brother and mother was one of the 80 tenants of  Chembur-Mayur housing society, Tilaknagar which received similar bills. Their building (no 123) had undergone redevelopment recently.

…Read Full Story in Chembur-Ghatkopar Plus

Tilaknagar Municipal Market & Bhaurao Harishchandra Chemburkar Municipal Market are among the first 10 BMC owned Civic Markets buildings which are going to be taken up for redevelopment . The civic improvements committee on Tuesday passed a proposal to that effect stating that these dilapidated market were in need of urgent repairs.

Th BMC was accused of helping a private developer in the Crawford Market redevelopment controversy, hence, the BMC decided to change its policy. According the old policy in mumbai, the ratio of rehabilitation and incentive to the builder was 1:0.6 FSI and the rest goes to the BMC. As a result, for every 10 shops in the renovated market, the builder gets six. In the suburbs, the ratio is 1:1, which means, BMC gets nothing. “The new policy was based on the fact that the commercial potential of a plot in say Bandra, is equivalent to that in the city. Considering that the corporation would suffer a huge loss, we have prepared a proposal to go by the ready reckoner rate of a plot. The rest would go to the BMC,” said a senior civic official. “However, we are going ahead with the old policy to redevelop dilapidated market buildings that need urgent repairs. We can’t wait till the new policy is passed by the improvements committee,” he added.

Amin Patel , a senior Congress member, said “The developers were roped in for redevelopment only because the BMC was not strong financially earlier. But now, it has the capacity and should develop its markets on its own. However, a structure as major as Crawford Market will have to be developed by the civic body only. ”

Out of the 103 BMC-owned markets in the city, Few of the other old markets considered already for redevelopment include…

B R Gawde Dr Bhosle Municipal Market(Worli) ,
J L Patil Civic Market(Sewri),
Parksite Civic Market(Vikhroli),
Sant Gadge Maharaj Municipal Market,
Ghamaji Manaji Municipal Market(Byculla),
Kalina Civic Market,
Gopi Tank Civic Market (Mahim) ,
Sant Jalaram Bappa Municipal Market(Mulund)